Down on the Farm with Data

The most famous mash-up of valuation data and marketing applications was Zillow's "Zestimate," the centerpiece of Zillow's national launch in 2006. Zillow's PR folks at the time positioned their new tool aggressively. I was VP of Public Affairs at NAR at the time, and I will never forget the phone calls we received from national reporters suggesting that maybe now consumers would no longer need Realtors to sell their homes because they could find out their home values online.

Though the early Zestimates needed further refinement, there's no doubt that the launch was a tremendous PR success. Automated valuation models (AVMs) like Zillow's multiplied like rabbits, not just because they can be great traffic generators but because they are also hugely profitable ways to generate leads for brokers and loan officers.

Over the past decade, the marriage of real estate data and marketing tactics has taken different forms. I worked for Allan Weiss for several years to support his extraordinary Weiss Analytics maps and reports on individual properties. Unlike most other valuation tools, Allan has assembled a massive Big Data database covering millions of homes and uses four repeat sales indexes to create extraordinary accuracy at the house-by-house level.

Over the past year, Allan has joined with Brad Inman to create what may be the best valuation tool ever developed for real estate professionals. It not only gives current values based on house-specific data, but it also forecasts near term valuation trends on a micro level—information worth its weight in gold for sellers, buyers, and investors.