Zeno's Bar & Grill
Monday, March 13, 2006
It's a Website...No Wait, It's a Verb
Nosy people: pay attention. 
Ever wondered how much your friends paid for their house? This is a question that could previously be answered only through research of the tax rolls, but now it’s suddenly, shockingly easy to find out this and much more merely by typing in the address at a site called zillow.com. It also gives an estimate (or "zestimate" as it's perkily called) of a home's current value, which can give you that happy equity-rich feeling, especially if you live in California.
In recent days, two separate people have confessed to zillowing my house. Zillowing all your friends' and relatives' homes seems to quickly be becoming a guilty pleasure or addiction of sorts. Of course, I went in to the site and reciprocated. Another neat feature is the satellite photo that accompanies the data. Along those same lines, try Google Earth, which lets you zoom in from outer space to any address you want. Seems to me that mapquest is not long for this world if you can use the Google version with its detailed and accurate pictures. I even finally got to see Kelly’s house (although I refrained from zillowing it.)
--Melanie
P.S. I predict the term zillowing will enter the mainstream vocab with astonishing rapidity: right now there are only 328 hits on Google, but wait and see.
Ever wondered how much your friends paid for their house? This is a question that could previously be answered only through research of the tax rolls, but now it’s suddenly, shockingly easy to find out this and much more merely by typing in the address at a site called zillow.com. It also gives an estimate (or "zestimate" as it's perkily called) of a home's current value, which can give you that happy equity-rich feeling, especially if you live in California.In recent days, two separate people have confessed to zillowing my house. Zillowing all your friends' and relatives' homes seems to quickly be becoming a guilty pleasure or addiction of sorts. Of course, I went in to the site and reciprocated. Another neat feature is the satellite photo that accompanies the data. Along those same lines, try Google Earth, which lets you zoom in from outer space to any address you want. Seems to me that mapquest is not long for this world if you can use the Google version with its detailed and accurate pictures. I even finally got to see Kelly’s house (although I refrained from zillowing it.)
--Melanie
P.S. I predict the term zillowing will enter the mainstream vocab with astonishing rapidity: right now there are only 328 hits on Google, but wait and see.
