{"id":585,"date":"2006-10-30T12:14:38","date_gmt":"2006-10-30T19:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=585"},"modified":"2007-04-01T09:51:51","modified_gmt":"2007-04-01T16:51:51","slug":"the-zillowcom-shake-down-bloodhounds-take-so-far-and-a-chance-to-win-a-bloodhoundrealtycom-tee-shirt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/585\/the-zillowcom-shake-down-bloodhounds-take-so-far-and-a-chance-to-win-a-bloodhoundrealtycom-tee-shirt\/","title":{"rendered":"The Zillow.com shake-down: BloodhoundBlog&#8217;s take so far &#8212; and a chance to win a BloodhoundRealty.com Tee Shirt . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If <a href=\"http:\/\/www.inman.com\/blogger\/2006\/10\/blog-roundup-zillow-responds-to.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Inman Blog sent you here<\/a>, here is our side of the story so far:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=574\" target=\"_blank\">Welcome to Race Piracy 2.0: Zillow.com is targetted for the crime of having deep pockets&#8230;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=575\" target=\"_blank\">Zillow.com shake-down: This is the first shoe dropping&#8230;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=580\" target=\"_blank\">Zillow.com shake-down: Creeping disclaimerism as a subject-changing gambit&#8230;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=581\" target=\"_blank\">The Zillow.com shake-down: How the other shoe will drop&#8230;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A question might arise in a thoughtful mind: Why am I defending Zillow.com from this outrage?<\/p>\n<p>First, because they have the right to run their business however they choose. If I can persuade them to add a disclaimer to their front page, that&#8217;s great. If not, it&#8217;s still their business, their private property.<\/p>\n<p>Second, and of much greater importance, if Zillow.com caves in to extortion, that will open the net up for raids by every flavor of &#8220;non-profit&#8221; piracy. It is very rare that anyone can make any difference at all in the way things are done. This is one of those times, a transition point, and what Zillow.com does may have decisive impact on future events. Will the net become another corporate cash-box for &#8220;non-profit&#8221; groups who will &#8212; for a fee &#8212; &#8220;protect&#8221; you from legislation they got passed? Or will the net remain the exception to the way business is done in America?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.futureofrealestatemarketing.com\/more-from-the-war-on-zillow\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Future of Real Estate Marketing has more today<\/a>, as does <a href=\"http:\/\/www.realtythoughts.com\/?p=122\" target=\"_blank\">Realty Thoughts<\/a>. For my own part, I believe the crux of the issue is racial politics and Fair Housing legislation, rather than the plights of starving appraisers or disgruntled Realtors. These groups may have their own axes to grind, but every NCRC shake-down I have been able to uncover has been related to Fair Housing law or the Community Reinvestment Act.<\/p>\n<p>These are the three instances I have found, having invested less then ten minutes&#8217; research time:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.city-journal.org\/html\/10_1_the_trillion_dollar.html\" target=\"_blank\">NCRC routinely shakes-down banks<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/originatortimes.com\/content\/templates\/standard.aspx?articleid=2103&#038;zoneid=5\" target=\"_blank\">NCRC shakes-down lender for red-lining<\/a>. Note that the article reads like the lender was fined, but the payment actually went to NCRC.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/biz.yahoo.com\/prnews\/061005\/nyth204.html?.v=18\" target=\"_blank\">NRT hires NCRC to teach its Fair Housing classes<\/a>. In this instance, <a href=\"http:\/\/realtytimes.com\/rtapages\/20060828_nrtdefend.htm\" target=\"_blank\">NCRC was the white-hat protector called in to fend off the black-hat protectors<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>My belief is that fleas don&#8217;t come in threes: If every story I found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/585\/the-zillowcom-shake-down-bloodhounds-take-so-far-and-a-chance-to-win-a-bloodhoundrealtycom-tee-shirt\/#more-585\" class=\"more-link\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If Inman Blog sent you here, here is our side of the story so far: Welcome to Race Piracy 2.0: Zillow.com is targetted for the crime of having deep pockets&#8230; Zillow.com shake-down: This is the first shoe dropping&#8230; Zillow.com shake-down: Creeping disclaimerism as a subject-changing gambit&#8230; The Zillow.com shake-down: How the other shoe will drop&#8230; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,6,5,25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-585","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-blogging","7":"category-disintermediation","8":"category-marketing","9":"category-real-estate","10":"category-zillowcom","12":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":575,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/575\/zillowcom-shake-down-this-is-the-first-shoe-dropping\/","url_meta":{"origin":585,"position":0},"title":"Zillow.com shake-down: This is the first shoe dropping . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"John Cook, Seattle Post-Intelligencer:Zillow has contacted the NCRC, and the two plan to meet soon, Berenbaum said. He expressed confidence that they can resolve the issues in a way that benefits the entire home valuation industry.Actually, the complaint made me think that Yahoo.com is going to have to cough up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blogging&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":580,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/580\/zillowcom-shade-down-creeping-disclaimerism-as-a-subject-changing-gambit\/","url_meta":{"origin":585,"position":1},"title":"Zillow.com shake-down: Creeping disclaimerism as a subject-changing gambit  .  .  .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 27, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Whatever. Just don't pay them off. The issue is a lot bigger than Zillow.com, and Net Exceptionalism is too important an idea to be squandered. Even if you don't know who your friends are, I will hang with you if you will hang tough... Our story so far:Welcome to Race\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blogging&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":589,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/589\/the-zillowcom-shake-down-preparing-for-the-denouement\/","url_meta":{"origin":585,"position":2},"title":"The Zillow.com shake-down: Preparing for the denouement . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 31, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Via Matrix, The New York Times:Zillow.com, the Web site that provides free home valuations, has been accused by a coalition of community activist groups of undervaluing the homes in black and Latino neighborhoods.The headline of the story: \"A Home Valuation Web Site Is Accused of Discrimination.\" I said the headline\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blogging&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":574,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/574\/welcome-to-race-piracy-20-zillowcom-is-targetted-for-the-crime-of-having-deep-pockets\/","url_meta":{"origin":585,"position":3},"title":"Welcome to Race Piracy 2.0: Zillow.com is targetted for the crime of having deep pockets . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Heads up, folks. It's a shake-down. Poor Zillow.com has gotten itself caught up in a classic Jesse Jackson-style shake-down. This is specious bullshit, and everyone who cares about justice -- and about not having the rest of the net raped by posturing diversity pirates -- should line up with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blogging&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":597,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/597\/the-zillowcom-shake-down-at-last-a-discouraging-word-about-ncrc\/","url_meta":{"origin":585,"position":4},"title":"The Zillow.com shake-down: At last a discouraging word about NCRC . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"All right, it might be a little naive, but it's something. From the Square Feet Blog at the San Jose Mercury News:So why has the NCRC decided to announce that Zillow is putting the American Dream in peril? What do you think? Genuine concern for consumers, or or just pining\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blogging&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1435,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1435\/ftc-to-ncrc-regarding-zillowcom-what-price-justice\/","url_meta":{"origin":585,"position":5},"title":"FTC to NCRC regarding Zillow.com: What price justice?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The attempted shakedown of Zillow.com that began last October -- when The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaining that the nascent Seattle-based Automated Valuation Model (AVM) was misleading minority homeowners about the value of their homes -- has come to stunningly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Disintermediation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}