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Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Zillow talk

No, not the Doris Day movie "Pillow Talk", but Zillow talk.

This is a new site unleashed on the public two weeks ago - www.zillow.com. It provides property value information superimposed on a satellite view of homes. The concept is most interesting and will be welcomed by consumers. But it's not production-ready yet.

The dollar values it shows are almost always undervalued - often by as much as 33%. The data comes from various public record. MLS data would be more accurate. When Zillow provides estimated values, their algorithms don't appear to consider all of the necessary factors.

In one neighbor, Zillow shows the estimated prices to be $1.2M to $1.35M. One of those homes is currently on the market for $2.0M. Even if you assume that it is over-priced, there is a significant disparity between the real world and Zillow.

As an offering today, it is not providing satisfactory results. Once Zillow can get better data, this site will be a formidable entity on the Internet.

At best it provides estimates but will never replace the judgement (and the resulting accuracy) of a professional REALTOR. But this tool is going to be well received by consumers.

Keep your eyes on Zillow.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Blackberry sales increase in 2005

Gartner released sales figures for the PDA market, including the BlackBerry device. Gartner reported that RIM shipped 3.2 million units of its BlackBerry device in 2005, up 46 percent from 2.2 million units in 2004. The BlackBerry overtook perennial personal digital assistant maker Palm for the top spot in the worldwide market for PDAs, as Palm's PDA shipments fell 25.6 percent.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

RETS it all about?

RETS is the Real Estate Transaction Standard. It is an open standard for the exchange of real estate information. It is an effort spearheaded by the NAR to facilitate the access and movement of MLS information. Many vendors, brokers, agents, MLSs, vendors and providers have already successfully implemented RETS-compliant solutions.

There are many benefits to RETS

- Reduced time-to-implement for real estate solutions
- Reduced operating expenses
- Better service levels
- Allows for interoperability

On the www.realtor.org website, there is a page recommending that various players in the real estate arena take the following actions regarding RETS.

Brokers
- Ask if your vendors are RETS compliant
- Does you MLS offer a RETS compliant solution?

MLSs/Associations
- Implement a RETS compliant solution
- Ask your vendor if they are RETS compliant

Solution Providers
- Ask your current and prospective customers if they offer a RETS compliant server.

MLS System Vendors
- Find out the advantages of being RETS compliant
- Learn more about RETS at the next RETS meeting.

More about RETS coming soon.