"Welcome to the addicting and voyeuristic world of Zillow, the Seattle-based real estate Web site that offers real-time market values on more than 40 million homes nationwide."

Zillow ranks in real estate's top five after one month. "Nearly 2.8 million Americans last month logged on to Zillow.com in the days after its well-financed and publicized launch Feb. 8. They were eager to get an estimate, or what Zillow calls a “zestimate,” of a property's value and much more detail about the millions of homes listed on the site.

Zillow.com, a Seattle-based Internet company, offers an easy way to estimate the price of your home - or that of your neighbors. Just type in an address and check out the "zestimate." But the results do not necessarily jibe with owners' expectations.

"Not Everybody is Thrilled with Zestimating Property Values," by Roger Showley, writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

This article goes on to ask the question, "But how reliable is this home pricing information, which for those interested in real estate gives new meaning to being a looky-loo?"

"In some cases, the prices shown are wildly different from the reality of today's slowing real estate market." Overnight, an Internet sensation has arisen as homeowners click away on a new Web site to look up the value of their homes, then turn to those of their neighbors, family, bosses, politicians or celebrities – anyone with a street address.

Here's what Barbara Clements, of The News Tribune, goes on to say in her article entitled, "The Mark of Zillow;"

"Newspapers, blogs and real estate trade journals have blasted the site for giving inaccurate information on homes, with valuations as much as 20 percent above or below actual value. According to the company, variances on Zillow’s estimates range high or low by about 7 percent. In the Seattle area, the variance might be as little as 5 percent, Zillow says."

To all the criticisms, the site’s chief financial officer, Spencer Rascoff, says: Yes, we know that.

“This is a starting point,” said Rascoff, also a former Expedia employee. “You’re not going to be accurate 100 percent of the time on 40 million homes.”

"The Zillow Conspiracy," by Dustin Luther of Seattle's Rain City Guide. Rain City Guide is a great "cutting edge" real estate blog out of the Seattle area. Dustin makes some interesting observations;

Zillow seems to inspire one of three questions in people:

How did Zillow do such a good job zestimating the value of my home?
How did Zillow do such a bad job zestimating the value of my home?
Did they really hire people to digitize that many public records?

The answer to these questions:

1) They hired some darn smart people
2) Apparently not smart enough
3) I smell a conspiracy!

"What's your boss's house worth? Zillow can tell you," by Noelle Know, writer for USA Today.

"There's only one problem: You can't believe everything you see."

The article goes on to state; "The property values, or "Zestimates," are only within 10% of the right price 62% of the time, and the accuracy varies widely by county and state, ranging from a low of 47% for New York to a high of 82% for Nebraska, the company says."

View some of the comments made by readers of "Mortgage News Daily" about Zillow in their article, "Zillow May Not Be Ready For Prime Time."

Mortgage News Daily sums it up this way; "It is a shame that Zillow came on line before it was ready for prime time. The hype has been incredible - ABC's Good Morning America featured it this week and, as we stated at the beginning, CNN, CNET, Motley Fool, USA Today, Business Week, and dozens of metro newspapers have given it a lot of free air or ink. Many people have visited the site, came away disappointed and may not bother to go back. Better that Zillow had all of their ducks in a row before going public."