Yahoo Real Estate strikes deal with Zillow
Start-up, still in beta, to provide Yahoo with satellite map-based search functions, home value tracking.
Visitors to Yahoo Real Estate can now use Zillow's software to look up and compare real-estate values, Yahoo announced Wednesday. Along with an approximation of a home's value, the Zillow software provides indicators showing value fluctuations over the past week, as well as graphs that chart changes over the past year.
Seattle-based Zillow was launched in February 2006 by two members of the original team behind travel site Expedia: Richard Barton and Lloyd Frink. It uses a proprietary formula based primarily on public records to generate its "Zestimate" of a home's approximate market value. From that, it can create a "Zindex" median house value for a given geographic area on a particular day.
Zillow also implements satellite maps from GlobeXplorer to chart and visually compare housing features and prices. On Yahoo Real Estate, however, the map data will be provided by Yahoo Maps.
Zillow's Web site says most "Zestimates" are within 10 percent of a home's actual market value.