Posted on 04/15/2007 6:31:41 AM PDT by radar101
Arizona regulators have ordered a Seattle-based online home price estimator to stop doing business in the state.
The Arizona Board of Appraisal issued two cease-and-desist letters to the company that operates the popular real estate Web site Zillow, saying it needs an appraiser license to offer its "zestimates" in Arizona.
"It is the board's feeling that (Zillow) is providing an appraisal," Deborah Pearson, the board's executive director, said Friday.
Zillow warns users the estimates it provides are not a definitive value but a starting point for consumers. Launched in February, 2006, the company claims it has 4 million users a month, including people wanting to how much their homes - or their neighbors' homes - are worth.
The site has been criticized by real estate professionals and others concerned about its accuracy.
A complaint was filed in October with the Federal Trade Commission by the non-profit National Community Reinvestment Coalition, alleging Zillow was misleading consumers and others with its estimates.
Zillow issued a statement Saturday saying it disagreed with the board's view, and pointed to an opinion issued by a national appraisers standards group that said online estimates aren't formal appraisals.
"We strongly believe that providing Zestimates in Arizona is completely legal and in fact an important public service, given that Zestimates are the result of our 'automated valuation model' and are not a formal appraisal," co-founder and company President Lloyd Frink said in the statement.
Zillow's director of communications, Amy Bohutinsky, said the company has responded to the board's letters and hopes to "engage in a productive dialogue with them."
On Saturday, the Zillow.com Web site was still giving price estimates for homes in the Phoenix area.
Someone’s rice bowl is being threatened.
Information is power...looks like this Arizona cartel wants to make sure the consumer can’t get it easily.
looks like the Real Estate Cartel is feeling out
Same with the legal profession. Search the internet to find precidents. Many sites are available only to lawyers.
I don’t see what the problem is. A bank or other lender will require a formal appraisal for closing. This is an informal process and gives the consumer an idea of what his/her comparables are, besides which it’s a matter of public record. All they’re doing is the legwork.
They had better go after real estate agents then. I sold two houses in AZ and both times the agent gave me an estimate of what I could expext to receive.
Well, I've been licensed here in Michigan since 1994 and I must say it has done a great job of documenting a market housing collapse and how lib policies can and will ruin an entire state.
Nothing wrong with that except for the possibility that the agent could have given you a low price to ask. If the buyer had a lendor, the lendor required him to get an appraisel.
Probably. OTOH, Zillow’s estimates do not appear to be very accurate in my experience (too high). It may be that Z upsets the listing realtors because it encourages homeowners to want to list “too high”.
Or encourages "For Sale By Owner"
I found that Zillow was almost 100% right on the button each time.
Leni
This just in: Arizona bans TurboTax because tax preparation can only be done by Arizona Certified Public Accountants. Jeez...
Arizona real estate interests must have donated a lot of money to get a ruling like this.
Education requirements are sky rocketing to become licensed, starting in 2008.
That’s because attorneys pay for access to those services. I’m sure if you contacted Westlaw or Lexis, they’d be glad to set up a monthly service that can run hundreds of dollars, depending on what jurisdictions you’re interested in researching.
Exactly.
I haven’t looked at this site in forever.
Just decided to create a “Make Me Move” price on my house.
Hey, 6 acres, working horse farm, close to Dallas ...
One never knows.
Bureaucracy protecting their enabling interest group rather than the public they ostensibly serve. Classic!
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