A Real Estate Discussion Blog

I recently attended a trade show where the two most popular questions at the Zillow booth were 1) Where do you get your data and 2) How accurate are your Zestimates?

Data -  We get data from a number of sources, but the most popular place is from county records.  In some counties this is great, in others (especially in non-disclosure states)  the data is very weak and we have to turn elsewhere.  Of particular note to Agents- we also get data from listing feeds.  Say the county said a home had 3  bedrooms, but when you post the listing on Zillow you say it has 4.  We will override he county data with your information, as we figure you are the more reliable source, and the Zestimate could change based on this.  If you want to read more about the Zestimate, please visit What's A Zestimate Value.

Accuracy  -  We constantly monitor how accurate the Zestimates are by comparing them to closed transaction data on the day the property sells.  By looking at the deltas that exist between the Zestimates and the sold prices, we can conclude our median err (or accuracy) rate.  We then publish these figures across all counties.  We are the only AVM (automated valuation model) to be publically transparent about our accuracy rates.  On this chart you'll also see the percent of times that the Zestimate was with 5, 10 or 20% of the sales price. 

This Accuracy Chart can be found at the bottom of all Zillow pages as a light gray link called Zestimate Values & Accuracy. Click on the link, then click on States/Counties and scroll to your area.  So when we were asked this question, we simply went to the Accuracy Chart, looked up the accuracy rate, and gave a straight answer. 

This accuracy rate can also effort the Value Range we have on many of the 80 million homes found on Zillow.  If the accuracy is low, the value range spread may be much wider than if the accuracy were high.  Having the value range on properties at all is a good indication to folks that the Zestimate isn't an appraisal, but rather a starting point and thus the need for a range. 

Many Agents said this chart was very helpful because they work with clients who will say "but Zillow said..." about a home's particular price.  Now they can come back and say "but Zillow also said that they have an err rate of XX% in our county" and have the numbers to prove this. 

We at Zillow are continuing to roll out free ways to get your listings, your brand and now your expertise in front of the home buying, selling and owning community. 

Your listings- About 18 months ago, Zillow started letting people post listings on the site.  Each posting can include up to 50 photos, virtual tour links, personal website links, and all your contact information - for free. 

Your personal brand- In October 2008 we added the Professional directory.  Anyone who registers on the site and creates a profile can be found in this directory, for free.  Your profile can be as detailed as you want to make it.  Also, all links you add to your profile are followed, meaning that all SEO benefits are passed along to you.

and now...

Your knowledge- Today we are launching Zillow Advice, an interactive way to connect with people and demonstrate your expertise. Basically, anyone can ask a question and you can jump in with answers.  Any answer you leave has a link to your profile, so make sure that it is filled out completely so people know how to get directly in touch with you.  To streamline your efforts on Advice, you can subscribe to e-mail or RSS alerts for topics and locations you specialize in. 

Examples of questions posted this morning:

Help!!!!! How can I ask the selling bank to fix the leaking roof of a REO before close?

Put up for sell this March or wait until next March???

How does a FHA 203k loan work if you plan to do the work yourself??

Zillow is attracting about 5.3 million people to the site each month, hungry for real estate information and advice.  This is a huge audience of people looking for real estate information, guidance and advice. 

Marketing For Rainmakers is a great book for both experienced and novice marketers alike. 

For one who has been in the marketing business for years, the book helps you approach known techniques from a different perspective.  And for those new to marketing, Phil uses a formula in each chapter to make the book  easy to understand, digest and most importantly- implement.  He first introduces a concept, then illustrates the concept and how it relates to marketing, and finally gives real life examples of how you can implement the concept introduced immediately into your business. 

I liked the format of the book, which is divided into 52  short chapters, full of colorful examples of the author's points delivered in a straight forward, yet humorous style.  My recommendation would be to read the book through once to get a general overview to being a Rainmaker marketer.  But then, keep the book at your desk and focus on implementing a concept in a chapter each week (book is conveniently has 52 chapters or 52 Rules of Engagement). 

An example of the sage advice offered throughout the book, and one that I found particularly relevant to my industry of Real Estate, was Chapter 11- Smarten Up.  Again the formula of 1) introduce concept 2) illustrate the concept then 3) describe how a marketer can use this information is applied. 

The first part of the chapter talks about how much information is available to people today, before needing to enlist a professional, something real estate professionals frequently hear.  He humorously notes that this is "exacerbated by human beings' tendency to overestimate their knowledge of just about everything", which can sometimes make the professional's job that much harder. 

What is the opportunity in this?  "...it can be addressed by ‘knowledge-added' marketing.. the focus of this marketing is identifying the only things in your business that can never be commoditized (your expertise)... become an invaluable resource and partner to your customers..." 

How do you do this? "provide all the information a client needs to make an intelligent ..decision ...this education process also serves to help clients better understand the value you bring to the table".  Educate through human-interest pieces, case studies, integrate knowledge-added marketing into your promotional pieces, put less focus on your brand/product and position yourself more as a resource or partner.  

 Phil's book will help you see that there are marketing lessons to be learned all around you that can be applied to your specific industry.  The book will help you get in the frame of mind to look at things in ways that your competition traditionally hasn't, and then act with this new-found insight and perspective.  And while reading this book, you'll not only get educated, you'll also be entertained. 

About the author: Phil Fragasso is a marketing expert with more than 25 years of marketing experience in the high-tech and financial services industries.  You can visit his website at www.marketingforrainmakers.com. 

Read other reviews for this book on Amazon.com. 

Read excerpts from the book here.

Ran into a social media topic that makes for an interesting debate.  Do you consider it a referral when someone gives you a testimonial, and should you financially compensate for this?

Background: I found the dentist I use today on Yelp.  I initially went to him because he had the most positive reviews on the site and because he was in my insurance plan.  My dentist is just okay.  I continue to go to him only because his location is so convenient for me and his office is nicely appointed. 

This weekend I received an email from the office saying that they consider reviews on Yelp and Citysearch like a testimonial.  If you give them a review a both sites and then send them an email showing that you have done this, they'll pay you their the typical $25 that they give out for a new customer referral.

At first I thought this was an interesting way to build an online reputation (as it is something I think is so important for agents to do).  Then I went to the sites and read what people are posting.  I think it is fascinating how smart and perceptive the general online community is at pulling out the truth. 

Of course there were tons of glowing reviews (deserved or not) for this office.  Would they pay you $25 for the reviews, if the reviews were bad?  I think there were a lot of people who weren't willing to risk the $25 loss. 

Today, there are reviews on the site with this flavor: "I am going to have to agree with several others on this site about the suspicious reviews for the Dental Salon..." 

To the dentist's credit of managing his online reputation, he left a lengthy note to response to some of the negative reviews and added "Some reviews have suggested that we have "fake" reviews on here or that we placed them ourselves.  This is not true and it is not fair to the people who took the time to review our business." 

Of course, it was only a matter of time before this comment was left: "I think Yelp needs to keep the business owners off of here. How else are we supposed to comment freely?"  I don't agree with this at all.  If you are going to talk about a particular business, that business should be able to respond, as long as everything is done is a completely transparent environment.  The public has a right to hear both sides of the story.  

So what do you think?  Right to offer financial reward for a testimonial?  Is a testimonial the same as a referral? 

Pros: If you read the reviews, you'll see that a lot of people chose this dentist because he overwhelmingly has the most reviews on Yelp and a majority of them are positive.

Cons: You could be rewarding people to write bogus positive reviews when they aren't deserved, and thus skewing your ratings.  If this compensation arrangement becomes exposed on the site, it could undo the integrity of the other positive reviews.

Personally, I did not write a review because I can't in good conscience give them 5 out of 5 stars (I would probably give about 2.5).  Now that I know how closely they are monitoring the boards, I don't want a review to affect my future relationship with my dentist!

The Dental Salon on Yelp

The Dental Salon on Citysearch

There are a lot of deals out there today for Cyber Monday, but here is one that is real estate related. 

If you are planning on Inman Connect in New York January 7-9, type in the promo code "4realz" to save $190.  This deal is bought to us by Dustin Luther of 4Realz.  This is on top of the early bird registration discount of$170 that ends today. 

Registration page

Event information page