David Barr's Sarasota and Venice Real Estate Blog

It's been a while since I've provided an update on Zillow's inaccuracy when it comes to real estate in Venice FL. Today I pulled screen shots of Zillow's map of Venice FL homes for sale.  According to the map, 1254 homes are for sale (including villas, condos, townhomes, and single family homes.).  However, on the same page under "Venice Real Estate Facts", it says 1184 homes are for sale. Zillow contradicts itself: Zillow map of 1254 homes for sale in Venice FL on January 20, 2020 Hey Zillow, are there 1254 for 1189 homes for sale in Venice FL on Jan 20, 2020?  In the screen shot above, Zillow says the median home value in Venice FL is $235,900.  According to our MLS for 2019 below, the median home value is actually $265,000.  According to our MLS, the Venice FL 2019 median home value is $265,000.   Folks, Zillow is not a credible real estate website.  They sell your information to real estate agents who can't figure ou...

I've been saying that Zillow is a problem in the real estate business for years.  There's two reasons for this: 1) They publish inaccurate data, that the public thinks is accurate; 2) They give a platform for online exposure to Realtors who have no idea how to market themselves, so how can they market your home for sale? A recent article by the Seattle Times on January 20, 2019 ( read here ), reports that the median Zillow Zestimate has a 4.5 % error rate nationally.   That's $22,500 on a $500,000 home. Just say no to Zillow Zillow is not a licensed real estate broker in most states.  It makes it's money from agents who pay to have their head shot on their site, because it gets a lot of traffic.  Zillow does not have to follow real estate law or conform to the Realtor Code of Ethics or MLS listing rules.  If they did, they could not leave off the market or sold properties on their site, to make it appear they have as many listings are Realtor....

I was doing some market intelligence today and I noticed something quite interesting. The major real estate portals such as Zillow/Trulia, Redfin, Movoto, etc., are including what are supposed to look like an active inventory count of available properties for the search term queried.  It seems one of our competitors has picked up on this trend. Today's search results for "Venice Island FL real estate" showing incorrect inventory on competitor websites Both of these search results are displaying incorrect inventory levels for the search terms used.  Since "Venice Island" is a geographic area more than a neighborhood, I use the mapping feature available in our MLS to display properties there for sale on my website .  Today there are 93 single family homes, condos, townhomes, and villas for sale in that area, not 127. As far as Zillow's link, it wasn't even accurate based on the keywords used.  For Venice FL, there are not 977 homes for sale. ...

I was reading today about Zillow acquiring DotLoop. I had not heard of DotLoop. Apparently it's a competitor to Docusign. And there's a lot of competitors to Docusign.  But I digress. The blog I was reading posted this link to a YouTube video about this acquisition:   https://youtu.be/FTvEw0toTTc I believe this is Zillow's last gasp. Zillow's end game is to change how real estate is transacted.  They have been pursuing a strategy of acquiring electronic signature companies, online rental companies, and IDX data (and stealing it to display on Zillow), all in an effort to begin the creation of a new online experience.  Zillow wants an end-run around Realtors, and appeal long term to millenials, who live their lives through apps. They can't win the accuracy battle with Realtor.com. They can't win the PR battle they face against an army of Realtors who are spreading the word about Zillow's unethical and misleading business practices. They are n...

As much as I hate to admit, I am a member of Zillow.  No, I don't pay them, as readers here and of my website know all too well.  I use my membership to help the confused consumers asking questions on their website. Today, someone asked what the "Make Me Move" feature was on Zillow.  Neil, a helpful Zillow employee, replied:  "It's the price that a seller might consider selling the house for". Really? You can read the thread and my responses here: http://bit.ly/L9Bbtm Then I was pounced on in the thread by another Zillow Koolaid drinker who said when the seller "claims" their property on Zillow (why does Zillow have it on their site in the first place then if it's not for sale or a seller didn't place it there?), they offer a price they "might" sell it for.  In this particular case, the property had an inaccurate Zestimate and a ridiculously high Make Me Move price. I'll move out of my house for $750,000.  It's ...