Zillow.com launched today, and since our place is still on the market, I thought I’d check what Zillow’s estimate for 2701 31st Ave NE was. Huh, Zillow puts the marker above the 189,900 we started the listing at. Cool.

Overall, the site is zippy and filled w/ ajax-y goodness (and I can therefore forgive the initial Safari incompatibility). The maps draw fast and come up with more info that I expected.

Outside of finding and refining the value of a house – I’m not sure what else I’d do here – explains the text and banner ads sprinkled across the site.

Of interesting note, I can update house data, add improvements, and choose comparable properties all without creating an account or logging in. The numbers are in Zillow’s terms, “your own private worksheet”. Nice way to provide value without the irritant of another login/password.

The real estate industry is ripe for reform, and Zillow is a much needed start in the right direction of transparency and immediacy. Speaking of transparency, yes, Zillow has a blog.