Your home value: the buzz about Zillow

A web-based home valuation service called zillow.com has been receiving much buzz around the country. You just type in your address (or anyone else's) and it returns an estimate and maps.

Some of the buzz is coming from fearful real estate agents who wonder if such a tool threatens their business model. (Some go so far as to hope they don't enhance the buzz by using the word Willow in their on-line posts.)

To the extent that their business model is based on being the gatekeeper to real estate data, perhaps it does. For those of us who moved long ago to being the trusted adviser and the interpreter of data, it does not.

Zillow's estimates in Alaska are probably just an extrapolation of property tax data. If you use the Zillow function to ask about comparable sales here, the site replies there are none. After all, there is no law requiring property sales to be reported in public, or to taxing authorities. Mass appraisal techniques lead to assessed values, which are often uneven for individual properties.

Zillow's graphing function in the case of my home produced the amusing assertion that it went up in value since last summer from about $334,000 to $396,000. To the extent that I trust myself as a "trusted real estate advisor" I'd question where this comes from. I would also trust my advice that with only a single garage, the home isn't worth this much now, even though the location is superior and the home is remodeled and well-maintained.

For full property searches, virtual tours and many other Anchorage real estate resources, visit RealS8.com.