According to an article by P-I Reporter John Cook, The National Community Reinvestment Coalition has filed a complaint with the FTC about the inaccuracy of Zillow's automated home valuation service.

Of course it's inaccurate. Everybody knows it, even Zillow. The Z company isn't touting their service as a magic bullet, but rather a technical work in progress (and it says beta right on the front page of the website). It's only a starting point. And for that it is absolutely outstanding. It offers a base of statistical knowledge and the homeowner can self-adjust the auto-generated value to their immediate area market conditions. Simple as that.

A complaint like this is as bad as the South Boston school who recently banned kids playing tag on school grounds because it was deemed "unsupervised, potentially harmful play". That's nonsense. That's just plain dumb. What's next, should I not drive my car because I might get in a wreck? Should Home Depot stop selling hammers because I might hit my thumb?

The point of the complaint is apparently to help keep loan sharks from preying on unsuspecting customers. The sharks use inflated numbers to con the mark into signing onto a bigger loan. But it would certainly make more sense to educate the public about the sharks instead of the tools.

Submitted by Steve Hurley

www.Tacondo.com