• Posted in Culture

    Uri Didn’t See This Coming — Elvis’ Home Gets Away

    As we posted here previously, the first home Elvis Presley ever owned was up for sale on eBay.  A couple of weeks ago, psychic Uri Geller and his business partners won the auction. Or, at least he thought he did. Now, Reuters reports that although Mr.

  • Posted in Culture

    Feeling Sketchy?

    On the topic of Google’s tools, there’s a new one that’s useful in the real (estate) world: Sketchup, which was recently added to the Google stable. As the name suggests, Sketchup is a software drawing program that can be downloaded from ...

  • Posted in Culture

    My “Other Browser” Window

    I’m getting ready to put my home on the market, so I’ve become more than just a theoretical user of Zillow and other real estate sites in the last few months. Of course, as an owner, I think my Zestimate is a bit low, but Zillow doesn’t know about ...

  • Posted in Culture

    Power to the People!

    I wanted to chime in with a quick word about our advertising specifications, and how we think about advertising on our site. This is pretty far from a manifesto, but it does reflect the belief that relevant ads are useful and desirable content. As a ...

  • Posted in Culture

    Famous Homes Mashup

    We’ve discovered a cool new site called Platial that allows people to easily create mashups on maps and share them with others. Once a map has been created, anyone who visits can add to it, creating a shared community map. I started one — ...

  • Posted in Culture

    Home IN the Range

    We give our users a stack of information about a house. Getting it all into our databases is a huge challenge but making it fit onto your screen is equally difficult. The Zillow Design Team works on that piece and they’re experts in making ...

  • Posted in Culture

    Real estate search trivia

    In case you missed it, Google Trends launched last week. Not only does it let you see how often search terms are being entered on Google, but it lets you compare searches. It was fun to play with some terms and compare them in relation to real estate. For ...

  • Posted in Culture

    Chronicles of Data Collection II: Non-Disclosure States

    It seems many people are confused regarding what a non-disclosure state (or county) is.  Hopefully, we can set the record straight for those of you wondering.  What does the term “non-disclosure” really signify when it comes to property ...

  • Posted in Culture

    I Did It!

    I love old homes — really, I do. I’ve had my share of Craftsmans and shingled Victorians that are charming, but huge money pits. That is, unless you buy one that has been redone and if it has, you’ll be paying top dollar. Like the home ...

  • Posted in Culture

    Wanted: Developers, IT/Ops and more!

    The challenge for Zillow.com to find top talent continues!  The Seattle business community is flourishing and new start-ups and established organizations alike are increasing their workforce to scale to the emerging growth. Not to mention, Washington ...