Technorati has seen a big bump in the number of posts since this story first came out. Unfortunately, the story shows no signs of going away either.
Los Angeles Times is the latest major media outlet to pick up on this story today.
In the tech media, CNET News has the story. So does Ars Technica.
Out in the blogosphere, Greg Swann continues to call this a shake-down, but seems convinced that Zillow will cave.
Except for people like Steve Jobs and Mark Kuban, corporations are run by cowards. Most likely, they’ll try to save face with a seven-figure bribe, then set up a fund to buy off future pirates, who will swarm not just Zillow.com but every set of deep pockets on the net.
Tech blogger Om Malik seems to think the push by the NCRC is coming from appraisers and bets Zillow’s VC backers are not sleeping so soundly right now. He says:
a lot of appraisal professionals can get dis intermediated by Zillow and their ilk, and that’s cause many a lot of sleepless nights.
Andy Beal from Marketing Pilgrim calls this bogus.
Finally, from the Zillow Blog, President Lloyd Frink has responded to the accusations.
We say in many places on the site (and next to the Zestimate on every home details page) that Zillow is not an appraisal, but a free research tool for consumers. We’ve also tried to be really transparent since we launched about Zestimate accuracy.
It’s nice to see Zillow is taking the communications challenge seriously and are out there trying to be part of the conversation. Case in point, a blog called Startup Squad says Zillow needs to evaluate the accuracy of its valuations – David G. from Zillow jumps right in with a comment asseting they already do.
Over the last few days, I’ve seen the Zillow folks commenting on a number of blogs, big and small, responding to these charges. It’s a great example of good public relations and how to engage this issue. Steve Rubel would be proud. By contrast, I’ve seen nothing or heard anything from the NCRC since they first leveled the charge.
