Meghan Daum highlights the dangers of surfing real estate sites like Zillow.com in a recent column in the Los Angeles Times. Her home is now worth $50,000 less than what she paid for it (at least according to the website). The problem: housing appraisal sites don't understand her, or her house... And certainly don't tell the whole story.
After all, just as a healthy long-term romantic commitment involves learning to focus on your partners' intrinsic, substantive qualities as his or her youth and beauty fades, shouldn't your relationship to your home transcend the cold calculations of the market? In other words, in the wake of mass depreciation, a little individual appreciation goes a long way. So bye-bye, Zillow! I don't need your stinking thinking in these troubled times. But if the economy of 2005 ever comes back, I'll be weighing myself on your scale at least once an hour.
Anyone else surfing the appraisal sites these days? Or have you given up on that pastime?
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