Businessweek

em to make intelligent decisions about homes. Zestimates and Rent Zestimates The company’s Zestimate and Rent Zestimate valuations are computed using complex, proprietary algorithms. A Zestimate is its estimated market value of a home. The company generates Zestimates using proprietary information, including: physical attributes, such as location, lot size, square footage, number of bedrooms, bathrooms and other details; tax assessments, such as property tax information, actual property taxes paid, exceptions to tax assessments and other information provided in the tax assessors’ records; and prior and transactions, such as actual sale prices over time of the home itself and comparable recent sales of nearby homes. The company uses proprietary automated valuation models that apply advanced algorithms to analyze its data to identify relationships within a specific geographic area between home-related data and actual sales prices. Home characteristics, such as square footage, location or the number of bathrooms, are given different weights according to their influence on home sale prices in each specific geography over a specific period of time, resulting in a set of valuation rules, or models that are applied to generate each home’s Zestimate. Digs Estimates With Zillow Digs, home shoppers and homeowners can find visual inspiration and understand the real cost of remodeling projects. Users can browse photos and see Zillow’s proprietary Digs Estimates for the estimated cost, based on where they live, of the actual bathrooms and kitchens they are viewing. The Digs Estimates’ technology helps home shoppers and homeowners create more realistic budgets appropriate for their specific market. Searchable Home-Related Data and Analysis Consumers and real estate professionals can update property information by adding home photos and personalized information regarding the neighborhood or school district, creating exclusive home profiles available nowhere else. The company’s map-based user interface enables its users to search, navigate and zoom to areas of interest and find and compare home information quickly from different perspectives across homes, neighborhoods, cities, counties and other geographical regions. The company’s team of economists and statisticians generates unbiased local and national real estate data and analysis on 371 metropolitan areas and approximately 9,700 individual neighborhoods that the company provides to consumers and real estate, mortgage and rental professionals. For Sale and Rental Listings The company provides comprehensive for sale and rental listings through relationships with real estate brokerages, real estate listings aggregators, multiple listing services, apartment management companies, home builders and other third-parties. In addition, the company provides consumers with access to exclusive home listings, such as its Make Me Move listings, which are a homeowner’s posted price at which they would be willing to move. The company also shows listings that may not be available on other sources, such as for sale by owner, foreclosure and rental listings. A substantial portion of the listings displayed on its mobile applications and Websites are provided to the company pursuant to a Platform Services Agreement with Threewide Corporation. Marketplace of Real Estate Agents The company presents consumers with ratings and contact information for the listing agent and local buyer’s agents alongside home profiles and listings for homes to assist them in evaluating and selecting the real estate agent best suited for them. Its directory includes profiles of real estate professionals, including approximately 225,000 ratings and reviews provided by its users, allowing consumers to evaluate these agents based on a number of criteria, including neighborhood specialization, number of listings and number of contributions to Zillow Advice. Home-Related Advice and Discussions The Zillow Advice section of its Zillow.com Web site captures questions and discussion topics from its users, both consumers and real estate, mortgage and rental professionals. This allows its co