We’ve blogged a few times about Zillow (here and here), a website that is trying to shake up the real estate industry. I’ve made radical predictions about the future of the real estate industry. I’m hoping that Zillow will help make those prophesies come true.
So to do my part (and because I am as susceptible to flattery as the next guy — if you read on you will see what I mean), I’m spreading the word about a new data analytics job that Zillow is trying to fill. If you think you have what it takes, send a resume to Chloe Harford. Here is the job description:
Job Title: Data and Analytics Specialist
Description:
Do you love answering questions and telling stories using data? Do you have a knack for transforming data into compelling insights? Do you lose track of time delving into fascinating data trends? Do you dream in numbers, pivot tables, and charts? Do you find typically that you are more likely to know who Edward Tufte and Steven Levitt are than those around you? Are you passionate about technology and transforming an industry?
If so, Zillow has the job for you. Be part of an analytics team helping to bring innovation, creativity, and excellence to the real estate industry. You’ll work in an informal, collaborative atmosphere with a team of strong, smart, self-starters like yourself. You’ll work hard, have a big impact in a small company, and have fun doing it!
In this role, you’ll conduct research and analysis on real estate market conditions and trends, millions of Zillow users and their behavior[s], and patterns in our terabytes of data. You’ll tackle projects and specific ad hoc analyses on topics of interest to you, our users, and our partners. Your results will be used in blogs, the broader press, partner communications, site content, and to drive internal decision-making. You’ll have plenty of opportunity to take the initiative to develop new high-impact data projects, and make recommendations based on your analyses.
Qualifications:
Excellent data, analytic, and problem-solving skills. Ability to analyze data and translate into actionable insights which can be easily understood and utilized by the entire organization, external partners, and press.
Strong knowledge of SQL (preferably MS SQL) is essential and experience getting insight from OLAP cubes is very helpful.
Strong organizational skills. Can track issues and work with other parties to resolve issues.
Superior presentation, communication, and interpersonal skills.
High energy and creativity; openness to new ideas/approaches; willingness to be flexible and do whatever you can to bring value to the team.
Qualities sought include: creativity, initiative, self-starter, attention to detail, sense of ownership, and being result-oriented, loves working in a high-energy growth environment in which data can make a substantial difference.
I only ask one thing. If you get the job, go into the Zillow database and double the value of my home, which — if you believe their numbers — is worth only half what I paid for it.
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Sounds like my kind of role (albeit in an industry I’m unfamiliar with in any kind of depth). Being paid to wallow around in data all day, solving problems and analysing trends? Fantastic.
Shame I live in UK, really.
David -
“Zillow is built on public records which are aggregated for us from County tax assessors and recorders by our data providers.”
There’s your problem. I think we are all finding these are not the most accurate “quasicurrent-time” sources. My subdivision has been going now for over 3 years and is now more than 100 houses. Not a single house is shown on Zillow. IMO, you need to find a better source for your data. As they say bad data in, bad data out. If you want current homeowners to update their values for you, then you need to incentivize them to do it. I like the idea of the site though. Good luck with the future of it!
Zillow has undervalued my old home in Chapel Hill NC by around $120k (~33%) based on recent comps. Data Quality is perception of their brand and in most cities it is a real problem. While I like their service for general research, they have a real credibility issue when it comes down to actual decision-making for sales/purchases.
I am buying a house in Seattle right now and used RedFin extensively (a competitor) which links to Zillow for price estimation. BTW- in Seattle, they seemed more accurate relative to market. My advice to Zillow- don’t enter a market unless you can randomly select 100 houses and come within 5-10% of a human appraiser for 90 of the homes…
Still, love the service of Zillow, Redfin, and Trulia…
Stephen-
Glad you are finding Zestimate values useful in your home search! However, I do want to note that a Zestimate is a starting point, not the final word on a home’s value; they are not to be used as a replacement for a CMA or appraisal. We recommend buyers and sellers consult a local real estate professional prior to making a financial decision. Please click the link above in David’s response to learn more about Zestimate values and accuracy.
I also wanted to clarify that Redfin is not a competitor to Zillow — our business models are completely different. They are a brokerage and make their money selling homes while Zillow’s revenue comes from advertising.
WhizGadget & wanttobeinca – thanks for the interest. Sadly I don’t think this role would work well for telecommuting given the heavy collaboration and teamwork needed.
DaveJ – I’d be happy to keep in touch for similar roles when we cross the pond; I’m from the UK.
It’s difficult for any evaluation site to be completely accurate, as recent additions, renovations, etc. aren’t reflected in the current public tax data that many sites solely rely on for their information. If you are looking for another option for evaluation information, check out recently re-launched Cyberhomes.com, which does not just rely on public tax data. We are owned by Fidelity National Financial (which houses the largest title agency and is the largest provider of MLS services), so we fundamentally have more content from within the FNF family of companies from which to aggregate our data. The site has more than 100 million records and you can edit a specific home’s facts to get a more accurate and immediate new evaluation.
As a real estate agent myself, I agree with Drew in that buyers and sellers should only use computer generated estimates as a starting point. No one knows accurate home prices like local real estate professionals.
I find Zillow amazingly accurate for my neck of the woods (MA). Though the other commenters have a good point about using tax data. It seems like using tax data in conjunction with the sales info regularly published in local newspapers would provide more up-to-date information, but that would be a lot of data to gather.
And the job sounded like a dream job, right up until the mention of SQL. Guess I’ll stay where I am.
I would also love this job, but I’m stuck on the wrong coast of the country.
I think there might be a niche to fill to provide a market for jobs such as this – maybe you guys should start a Freakonomics job board for those of us who would love to do this kind of work? I might be wrong, but I think it’s often hard to find these kinds of jobs on Monster, Dice, Careerbuilder, craigslist, etc.