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.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday March 07, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 68 words Type of Material: Correction
Zillow.com -- An article in the Sunday Real Estate section quoted Andrew Lipsman of ComScore Networks Inc. as saying the Zillow website was on their radar, but "thus far, we are not seeing enough traffic to report." The article failed to note that Lipsman's quote was based on incomplete data from ComScore, which tracks website data weekly and monthly and had not yet completed its totals for February.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday March 12, 2006 Home Edition Real Estate Part K Page 9 Features Desk 1 inches; 64 words Type of Material: Correction
Zillow.com -- A March 5 article quoted Andrew Lipsman of ComScore Networks Inc. as saying the Zillow website was on their radar, but "thus far, we are not seeing enough traffic to report." The article failed to note that Lipsman's quote was based on incomplete data from ComScore, which tracks website data weekly and monthly and had not yet completed its totals for February.
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.
