Interesting new Real Estate website – www.Zillow.com

New Real Estate Website - Zillow

Zillow.com is online now. This is the much anticipated real estate website launched by the guy who started Expedia.com, which changed the travel industry (80% of all travel is now booked online).

Zillow lets you:

• Instantly get valuations for over 40 million homes in the U.S.
• See historical sales and comps of nearby homes
• Refine the valuation estimate for a home
• Determine how future remodeling can impact resale value

I took it for a spin and the results were mixed.

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Should Austin Limit Home Sizes?

Should Austin limit Home Sizes?

The Austin City Council is considering whether to limit the construction of “McMansions” – big homes that replace smaller homes that are demolished or removed. Central Austin Neighborhoods such as Tarrytown, Hyde Park, Travis Heights, Clarksville and Crestview are areas where lot values will support the construction of new or remodeled homes much larger that the homes originally built. Owners of the smaller homes in these neighborhoods complain that the giant remodels/rebuilds dwarf the quiant cottages of yesteryear, and that an unsightly and asthetically unbalanced mix of homes is created by these big homes.

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