I agree that in many cases the Zillow data is not the best. Even the Zillow employees admit to that. But Zillow has done something effecitve, they realized that in some cases, when a homeowner isn’t necessarily in the selling stage, they just want a quick idea of what their home is worth. They’ll be the first to tell you that when it’s time for a sale, the homeowner should contact a Realtor. We use Zillow data for area wide information where it becomes much more accurate on the aggregate. Our data from Altos is in most cases the best choice, but again they are an aggregate of an entire zip code.

However, it goes back to the “I want it now” system. Zillow offers answers now, waiting for someone to send you back materials is in many cases too long of a wait.

100% agree with you though that when a client is ready to engage in a more serious home pursuit, the agent they speak with should NOT be using Zillow or Altos data as their CMA preparation tool.

So, I can not see EVER putting the Zillow API on our website for telling a prospect what their home is worth. In fact, we use that very fact to sell against brokers (and agents) who do this. “Mr Seller, for example Broker A has so little expertise in pricing homes that they use Zillow – a 3rd party that says they are off by more than 10% on average. Now, you don’t want a realtor or brokerage who doesn’t understand value do you? Isn’t that a pretty important thing in hiring an expert.”

I’d rather have them request value and respond or have to call for a request – let others send out garbage over the fence with silly Zillow values.

On another note, we’re even seeing Zillow stuff from weak buyer agents coming in on listings. EVERY time the buyer has lost out to a better realtor who has educated the agent to why Zillow’s data is entertaining at best – but inaccurate always.