The real estate software company Zillow is facing lawsuits over their online estimate feature “Zestimates” which has historically proven to be a successful advertising tool for the company. Homeowners and builders are claiming the estimates are inaccurate and damaging, by undervaluing the “true” real estate values of the properties. Despite the fact that Zillow claims these estimates are intended to serve as a starting point (and not actual estimates), the consumer class action alleges these estimations are in violation of IL laws which require appraisals to be conducted by a licensed appraiser. It is also interesting to note that this lawsuit has some undertones of privacy-violations as well, as the lawyers additionally state that Zillow should have to obtain approval from the homeowner prior to making such estimates public.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/zillow-faces-lawsuit-over-zestimate-tool-that-calculates-a-houses-worth/2017/05/09/b22d0318-3410-11e7-b4ee-434b6d506b37_story.html?utm_term=.4b22d94b0677