Founder of Expedia launches real estate web site

The founder of Expedia has just launched a site which could in the future challenge real estate agants as Expedia challenges travel agents. And the site went live today at Zillow.com.

And if Zillow.com is only half as successful as Expedia then realtors should be shaking in their boots. For today, thanks in part to Expedia, 80% of travel by Americans is booked online, and the number of US travel agents has fallen nearly 40% since 1996.

What Zillow.com wants to do initially is to help buyers and sellers understand much better the value of their homes. By typing in an address, the user gets an instant valuation of one home or all homes on a street or neighborhood. To get that information, Zillow pores over county records and other government data on 60 million US homes nationwide. It then uses proprietary computer analysis to determine current values, which the company calls “zestimates.”

The Seattle-based company’s objective is to create as complete a record as possible on individual properties. Providing a home’s history, including all past sales transactions, tax assessments and other details, should help put buyers and sellers on better footing during a real estate transaction.

One of the more interesting features is being able to view what previous owners paid for the property. This could even go up to the last 20 owners. Now that would be handy.

But lets face it the real value of the site has to be to allow the users to then view listings (including photographs) on the house and to be able to get in touch with the most suitable agent online. Zillow.com would probably then receive a smallish fee if a subsequent sale goes through.

In the mean time Zillow.com will have to make do with a highly sophisticated national valuation service alone. And Zillow's backers will have to make do with only making money by selling ads to agents and property companies.

And at the very least Zillow.com will shake up the weakish online real estate market. Expect realtor.com, IAC/InterActiveCorp’s Domania, HomeGain, HouseValues and other sites to develop quicker and provide more comprehensive services.

The real estate market has been in for a major shake up for a while. Let's hope Zillow and others can provide it.