• Recently Written

  • The Great Disconnect
  • Prop 8 - Why We Were Duped
  • The Deliberate Destruction of the Economy
  • How to Fix our ECONOMY
  • What’s the Difference between Madoff and Fannie Mae?
  • Why Title and Escrow Should be Separate
  • Another Take on the New Paradigm
  • Obama and HUD: A Brand New Day
  • Computers CAN Replace Humans
  • The Bottom Cometh (too soon!)

• Categories

  • General Thoughts and Comments

• Archives

  • October 2009
  • May 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • December 2007

• Admin

  • Login
  • Wordpress
  • XHTML

• Search

I was perusing other blogs today and came across my friend’s blog about Zillow and the accuracy of it’s Zestimates. More interesting to me though were the reactions and comments that followed it. I hate to say it, but allot of them sounded much the same as comments that I often receive when I speak of the transition that our industry is going through.

Most everyone says that computers can’t replace humans and frankly, I find those comments to be true and false and more importantly, lazy. True because computers can’t replace humans. False because they can replace what we are doing right now, and lazy because many of those comments reflect an unwillingness to change our roles and a gross misunderstanding of our value, as humans, in the transaction process.

First of all, the blog referenced above complained that certain websites that give value ranges of real estate are often way off. Many commentators agreed and said that they are way off because they are not human and cannot process all the information that we can. Bad info in equals bad info out. They miss the point. Zillow and sites like it will learn and grow. Wikipedia, is an amalgamation of many inputs. The site gives a definition of a word and then people from around the world can add to that definition and expand it and make it more accurate. I don’t know the details of how that works but the concept takes full advantage of the internet and proves that information and the processing of it is a process in itself and can be refined.

Zillow will eventually be able to unite the comps by tax records in the area along with people’s comments about a particular home site to arrive at more accurate Zestimates. Again, I don’t know how they will do it. If I did, I would be in the wrong industry. I do know that they will evolve and yes, eventually replace us humans in the valuation process. Let’s face it, even when humans guess at the value of a home, we are not that accurate. True value is in the eyes of the beholder.

This blog, however, is not about home values or internet sites but about the choices we are having to make and how so many don’t want to make them. I see that Zillow is fallable and I also see that it will soon be able to accurately value real estate, so I see that my value as a human Realtor is changing and that I need to tap into the things that I can do. I need to emphasize my humanity and my ability to comfort, guide, reassure and navigate these waters. That is my value in this transaction. It is not just about what I know, but what I know how to get and how I disseminate that info to my clients.

There is so much more to think about and these changes in technology really do require that we begin to rethink our roles in this ever-changing market. It is not enough to just brashly say that computers can’t replace humans and be content that we have job security because we said that.

Comments

• Blogroll

  • CF Escrow - San Diego Escrow - 239 Laurel st. Ste. 203 San Diego CA. 92101
  • What is Escrow anyway - Why are you here if you don't even know what escrow is? Read this now.