Feb 08
Zilpy - Another Zillow? (But Accurate?)
As Texas is a non-disclosure state, I’ve never liked Zillow. People who think Realtors do nothing, but schmooze and collect paychecks love Zillow, because they feel it empowers them to do their own home sale. In reality, since non-disclosure states do not disclose all sales prices, Zillow often gives poor data because (1) it only has sparse data to give and (2) a computer program is never going to be able to select comparable sales as well as a human who can go and physically view the property and adjust subjectively. So basically, Zillow, while it may be fun, is completely unreliable here in Texas.
But what about Zilpy? It’s a terrible name, but I thought I’d check it out. I compared the data provided by Zilpy for three apartments and condos that I know the rental rate and occupancy for in Austin to gauge the usefulness and accuracy. It was remarkably accurate for all the places that I checked. Granted, the site doesn’t appear to delineate by class of dwelling, but the ranges it gives help make it seem more accurate.
If you have a rental, check it out and let me know what you think. I’d love to hear from you.
Excerpt from Inman News.
Zilpy, the new ‘Z’ site in online real estate
Web site offers rental price estimates
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Zilpy is like Zillow for rental properties, with rental price estimates, demographic data and heat maps based on median rental rates.
The new Web site, which launched last week and lists Zillow as a partner company, offers competition to Rentometer.com, another site that allows users to gauge rental prices in a selected area.
Zilpy.com is not a rental listings site. It is a rental research site that allows users to grab automated rental price estimates by address, city or ZIP code, and to refine searches based on type of rental property, a desired rental range, number of bedrooms and a range of square feet. One of the founders referred to the site as “the Trulia for the rental market.”
The heat maps show areas with higher and lower rental prices — red zones feature the highest median rental prices, while dark green shading indicates the lowest rental pricing.
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Screen shots from Zilpy.com
