Monday, January 31, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Where Was the Realtor Source?
This morning on Good Morning America, reporter Elizabeth Leamy announced the Top 10 Cities to Buy a Home in 2011. Such a neat list for a complex market made me instantly wary.
Their ranking criteria and data seemed to come exclusively from Zillow.com, who compiled the list using stats related to affordability, unemployment rates, foreclosure rates and price increases. Where was the Realtor input and perspective in this? While Zillow’s four criteria are necessary quantitative factors for buyers, there were significant holes in the data it supplies. And when Good Morning America presented this streamlined data to their large audiences, they painted a misleading picture to consumers already inundated and confused by real estate news in the country.
While there could be some level of interest in the stats from a source such as Zillow, there is absolutely nothing that compares to the real and more accurate data from Realtor sources. Zillow is not the real estate expert!
I get it; the media’s job is to constantly supply and spin new information to their viewers. But in doing so, is the consumer being driven to believe that sites like Zillow are the best place to turn to when searching for real estate information?
Their ranking criteria and data seemed to come exclusively from Zillow.com, who compiled the list using stats related to affordability, unemployment rates, foreclosure rates and price increases. Where was the Realtor input and perspective in this? While Zillow’s four criteria are necessary quantitative factors for buyers, there were significant holes in the data it supplies. And when Good Morning America presented this streamlined data to their large audiences, they painted a misleading picture to consumers already inundated and confused by real estate news in the country.
While there could be some level of interest in the stats from a source such as Zillow, there is absolutely nothing that compares to the real and more accurate data from Realtor sources. Zillow is not the real estate expert!
I get it; the media’s job is to constantly supply and spin new information to their viewers. But in doing so, is the consumer being driven to believe that sites like Zillow are the best place to turn to when searching for real estate information?
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