Bringing information and data to the public is in the best interest of real estate professionals. I don't buy the old mindset that we, in the real estate community, are the gatekeepers to home information. Our job is to provide service and to be educated and experienced in real estate contracts, real estate law, and transactions. Witholding data about homes listed for sale, besides personal owner information, creates distrust.
That being said, sometimes new technology and information can hit a road bump.
Average Joe homeowner in Indiana gets up in the morning and logs on to a new real estate tool on the web. He finds his home and wants to see what the public sees about his home's estimated value, neighborhood statistics, etc. He sees this:
Local High School: Marion County Jail
Seriously.
Now, if you're waiting for the usual "Realtor admonishing Zillow" rant, you won't find it here.
The technology compares tens of MILLIONS of homes based on their comparable home sales, tax assessment data, proximity to schools, etc. Sometimes it is way off. Sometimes a jail becomes a school. The vast majority of the time, it's reasonably close and a good starting point for searching overall neighborhood values. The sheer size and complexity of the technology is amazing.
Remember when banks were using AVMs and "online appraisals" to justify loans amounts? They were making the same mistake as consumers who think an online estimate is a true appraisal. That doesn't mean the technology is bad, just that when people rely solely on technology, they're probably missing a big part of the picture.
We get the same kind of arguments against any new release of information. Our MLS hasn't yet released the ability for consumers to search for "bank-owned" or "short sale" homes on public sites. How could this possibly be bad for the real estate market? Sure, some owners may not want others to know their home is a short sale, but - it is a short sale, and it's public record. Some buyers are specificially looking for short sales, and bank-owned homes. Running them through the ringer for data is not the way to help them quickly find a home to buy.
My last two clients who bought homes were young technology professionals. They hopped in my car with printed listings from another company's web site that promised to give them cash back. They loved the other site for its wealth of information, but wanted to work with a full-time Realtor and were willing to forgo the freebie cash hung right in front of them.
Most consumers will take a new technology for what it's worth. It's another tool to help them get a base of knowledge for their search. For those that don't, we can only hope they don't enroll their children in the Marion County Jail.
