That Zillow ‘zestimate’ isn’t worth losing any zzz’s over

By now, chances are you’ve been to www.zillow.com and may have concluded that the “zestimate” of your home’s value isn’t -- make that izn’t -- worth the time it took to type in its street address.

“Insufficient data” was the bleak verdict from BusinessWeek Online of the much-ballyhooed and anticipated website, which purports to tell you how much your home is worth.

In a place like Southern California -- where it’s not uncommon for nightly dinner-table conversation to start with, “How much do you think we could sell for today, honey?” -- it would make sense that a website promising to track this vital information without a fee would be popular. And indeed the site -- the brainchild of Expedia founder Richard Barton -- bolted out of the starting gate even though a number of others, including Realtors and county assessors, have long offered the same basic information on the Web for free.

On Feb. 8, its first day of operation, Zillow.com crashed under the weight of 300,000 hits. One man, reported the Seattle Times, checked the home values of everyone on his Christmas list. Others checked on their neighbors’, their bosses’, their in-laws’, Bill Gates’. It was a day of Internet infamy, when little work got done in offices across the land.

But the zoom and zeal of Zillow-checking has faded faster than the introductory low rate on an adjustable mortgage.

When the site launched -- still in its beta testing mode -- it had enough data to provide zestimates on roughly 40 million homes. Since then, it has increased its data coverage to 46.5 million homes. “We’re slowly but steadily increasing our breadth,” said company spokeswoman Amanda Hoffman.

Also moving slowly are the numbers of visitors to the site since the initial rush.

Hoffman allows that traffic has “leveled off” but declined to say by how much. Andrew Lipsman of ComScore Networks Inc., which tracks network traffic, says that although Zillow is on their radar, “thus far, we are not seeing enough traffic to report.”

Zillow’s Hoffman remains undaunted. “When there’s a news story or a spot on ‘Good Morning America,’ traffic spikes again. We are still pleased.”

Less pleased are some of Zillow’s visitors. The problem is that not all of the site’s zestimates are based on complete or accurate information.

Take the case of Hope Edelman’s Topanga home. Finished in 1994, it has 3,300 square feet on 2.1 acres. Zillow.com listed it as built in 1992 with 2,900 square feet on .59 acres -- and now worth $1.4 million.

“Anyone looking at that site is going to get a very skewed and inaccurate view of our house,” Edelman said.

To be fair, the site has been saying all along that it expects to improve as its database grows. The site provides a link to Zillow’s accuracy tables, which list the geographic areas for which it has the most data, and hence is the most accurate. New information is added daily.

Zillow estimates that the majority of its home valuations are within 10% of the selling price of the home. And, to further refine a value, it invites users to amend their personal data using the My Zestimator feature to add in views and recent remodels.

Zillow also reminds users that to get a federally guaranteed loan, they’ll need a professional appraisal. A Zillow zestimate will get you zilch.

But such disclaimers have done little to quell the cries from disenchanted Zillowphiles.

At first, it was easy to dismiss as predictable the reaction from the Chicago-based Appraisal Institute. “Purchasing a home is the largest investment most families ever make. Would you trust such an important and life-changing decision to an Internet estimate?” asked a release from the trade group about a week after Zillow.com debuted.

The Appraisal Institute would prefer that you entrust that decision to one of its 21,000 members nationwide -- some of whom have taken out ads on the site.

“Zillow is intriguing, fun and free,” said Don Kelly, vice president of the Appraisal Institute’s public affairs office. “But free advice is often worth what you pay for it.”

Even on Zillow’s own blog, company President Lloyd Frink posted on Day 2 that of the more than 1,000 first-day e-mails, 21% were complaints that the site’s facts about their homes “have inaccuracies.”

Edelman is unhappy not only that Zillow got the particulars about her home wrong, but also that anyone can punch in her address and find out what they think it -- and she -- are worth.

“They have way more information about my house online than I am comfortable making public,” she said. “How much I paid in 1997 and what my annual property taxes are now -- anyone can make an assumption about how much I’m worth and how much I could bear in damages if they wanted to sue me.

“People at dinner the other night were saying that they’d already Zillowed 10 or 15 of their friends and clients to see what their houses were worth. And I was sitting there wondering if they’d also Zillowed me,” she said. “It’s even become a verb already -- Zillowed.”

Zillow’s Hoffman noted that complaints they’ve received haven’t crossed from inaccuracy to invasion of privacy. Home price and property tax data are public information available for free at the county assessor’s office.

Accurate or not, Zillow.com makes for interesting reading.

“It’s fun,” said Sara Corwin, a Hollywood photographer with a studio in her Melrose-area home. “I can’t quite believe that my house is worth as much as what they say it is -- $896,000 -- but do I really care? I’m not even thinking of selling.” She paid $355,000 for it in 2000 and describes it as “a tear-down that I love.”

For those addicted to checking their home’s value, some solace may be found in the arms of other free websites, where you can compare your results. None of the competitors, however, offer information that’s not routed through a realty agent.

Domania.com requires users to fill out a form and agree to be contacted by an agent. Homegain.com also will put “a local expert” in touch with you.

And, of course -- minus Zillow.com’s personality or its tendency toward alliteration -- there is the tried-and-true Los Angeles County tax assessor’s website at lacountyassessor.com/extranet/default.aspx. It will tell you the assessed value of a property -- although it may be out of date -- and what your neighbors really sold for instead of what they claim to have sold for.

If you are willing to pay for the information, www.homesmartreports.com will get it for you in under a minute for $24.95 without demanding your name or interrogating you about your real estate plans. How accurate is it? Homesmart put the value of Corwin’s Melrose home at $983,884 -- but the site ranks the probability of its own accuracy at 77 out of a possible 100.