The Zillow Conspiracy
Zillow seems to inspire one of three questions in people:
- How did Zillow do such a good job zestimating the value of my home?
- How did Zillow do such a bad job zestimating the value of my home?
- Did they really hire people to digitize that many public records?
The answer to these questions:
- They hired some darn smart people
- Apparently not smart enough
- A smell a conspiracy!
To understand how Zillow could possible get their hands on that many government records, it is important to understand that they must have had someone on the inside. I’ve suspected for a while that they had someone on the inside at one of the lesser government agencies, like the Department of Housing and Urban Development, but today I found proof that they have an insider at an even higher level of the government: The Treasury Department.
It seems that they’ve worked some type of advertising deal with the Treasury Department, and I’ve searched the web, but I think I’m going to be the one to break this story.
Zillow is now advertising on the one-dollar bill!
[photopress:zillow_dollar.jpg,full,centered]
Talk about prime real estate! Not even Microsoft has that kind of reach!
On a more serious note, if you were the Zillow employee who defaced the dollar bill and then used it to buy a lunch at Planet Java, you are welcome to contact me to reclaim the evidence of illegal activity (no questions asked!) before it falls into the wrong hands.
About the Author: Dustin Luther
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I’ll attach the...
Brilliant. Unlike WheresGeorge.com stamps I suspect a sticky peice of paper that gets “stuck” to a dollar bill probably isn’t considered defacing a dollar bill (since it leaves the dollar bill itself intact if removed). Great innovation on the original marketing idea…IMO.
Still much too early to see whether Zillow is gaining traction, but innovative marketing like the sticky and the crucial word of mouth factor could be taken as indicators. Have heard about it now from a few non industry people now as well. Is the power to (badly) guess the value of your home really that valuable? I should really get around to posting something about on my blog.
[...] I love this idea. It's tactile, engaging (you know someone will pick it up) and unique. I think this it could be used to great effect by Realtors or one of the real estate sites. Redfin? Trulia? Hey Zillow, why don't you stuff them with your one dollar bills! [via] [...]
Advertising on US currency is illegal.
Stamping currency with WG isn’t either one.