Zillow to Nationalize Real Estate Advertising

Realtors are getting luckier - now we can advertise our Open House in Sacramento, CA to someone in Houston, TX. Or so says Lloyd Frink, president of Zillow in a company-prepared press release.

Basically, this would work well for Realtors who advertise in the Sunday classifieds. Zillow has formed a partnership with about 282 newspapers (and are expecting more to join before the first half of 2008) where anyone who advertises in the classifieds will have the option to advertise online on Zillow across the nationwide alliances.

Already I find a few of my clients using Zestimates to evaluate the market for their homes and I've been known to add homes for sale to the Zillow database. While I think the Zestimates are not accurate, they're a good place to start. Then get a Realtor to tweak them.

My real problem with Zillow is that it is not regulated enough. And while I have had problems with the Metrolist MLS that keeps a very strict tab on Realtors and fines you for being late in reporting a sale or a pending sale, I must admit it has the most accurate information online. Zillow, especially because it is free, does not download directly from the MLS and often depends on people to update statuses. Which they often do not.