The real estate Web site is wrangling with Arizona regulators about the blurry line between official appraisals and online evaluationsZillow.com is one of the most popular real estate sites on the Web, but it's not well-liked at the Phoenix headquarters of the Arizona Board of Appraisal. The board is ordering it not to provide "Zestimates" on the value of homes in 'Zona on the grounds that it isn't a licensed appraiser in the state.
If Arizona gets its way—and other states follow suit—it could be a big problem for Zillow, since those Zestimates are one of the site's big draws. According to Zillow, its "automated valuation model provides Zestimates on more than 50 million homes nationwide and is used tens of millions of times each month."
The state board issued a cease-and-desist order to Zillow.com in July and another in November, then turned the matter over to the criminal division of the state attorney general's office, which has sent Zillow a letter, according to Deborah Pearson, the executive director of the board. Says Pearson: "The board does feel that based on what the product is, that it is an appraisal under the Arizona statute definition of an appraisal." The dispute was brought to light by an article in The Arizona Republic on Apr. 14.
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