Comments on: Cool site shows housing value, satellite maps, and more http://www.micsaund.com/2006/02/13/cool-site-shows-housing-value-satellite-maps-and-more/ Mike's World of fun stuff (pinball, games, electronics, amusement parks, computers, more) Wed, 11 Aug 2010 04:19:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Jona http://www.micsaund.com/2006/02/13/cool-site-shows-housing-value-satellite-maps-and-more/comment-page-1/#comment-3184 Jona Sun, 18 Feb 2007 02:36:03 +0000 http://www.micsaund.com/2006/02/13/cool-site-shows-housing-value-satellite-maps-and-more/#comment-3184 The prices are not at all accurate- for my community and surrounding area, they are 30% off the correct appraisal prices. Rather than using recent sales databases, this site bases its prices on square footage and is completely off! The prices are not at all accurate- for my community and surrounding area, they are 30% off the correct appraisal prices. Rather than using recent sales databases, this site bases its prices on square footage and is completely off!

]]> By: DDD http://www.micsaund.com/2006/02/13/cool-site-shows-housing-value-satellite-maps-and-more/comment-page-1/#comment-17 DDD Sat, 18 Feb 2006 16:48:40 +0000 http://www.micsaund.com/2006/02/13/cool-site-shows-housing-value-satellite-maps-and-more/#comment-17 Usually I'm sceptical about the quality of the data presented by these types of sites but I spent some time cross checking various actual real estate transactions in my area and in almost every case the numbers they reported for sales prices were accurate. It's actually not surprising that this data should be accurate since almost every "conforming" loan that is processed in this country in some way goes through government backed companies such as fannie mae and freddie mac. Not to mention the data in the various nationwide Multiple Listing Service (MLS) databases. Which most people only think of as forward looking but it contains historical data as well for realitors. Just ask any decent realitor in your area and they can give you quarterly and monthly reports of sales data. Therefore all this data is available but usually not packaged as zillow has done. For example, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO www.ofheo.gov) uses this data to track housing prices with something they call the "house price index". They track appreciation rates for major metropolitan areas, states and the national level. The really nice thing about zillow is that they have presented the data at a finer level of detail. Usually I’m sceptical about the quality of the data presented by
these types of sites but I spent some time cross checking various
actual real estate transactions in my area and in almost every case
the numbers they reported for sales prices were accurate.

It’s actually not surprising that this data should be accurate
since almost every “conforming” loan that is processed in this
country in some way goes through government backed companies such
as fannie mae and freddie mac. Not to mention the data in the various
nationwide Multiple Listing Service (MLS) databases. Which most people
only think of as forward looking but it contains historical data as
well for realitors. Just ask any decent realitor in your area and
they can give you quarterly and monthly reports of sales data.
Therefore all this data is available but usually not packaged as
zillow has done.

For example, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight
(OFHEO http://www.ofheo.gov) uses this data to track housing prices with
something they call the “house price index”. They track appreciation
rates for major metropolitan areas, states and the national level.
The really nice thing about zillow is that they have presented the
data at a finer level of detail.

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