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I wonder how many other tech companies fit into this general category of "providing an equivalent to a regulated service without meeting the regulations". You'v
by cavanasm 9y ago
I wonder how many other tech companies fit into this general category of "providing an equivalent to a regulated service without meeting the regulations". You've got the more obvious "sharing economy" type things which are in the news all over the place lately, but I bet there are a bunch of other companies like Zillow that have been flying under the radar for a while.
- jdavis703 9y agoSince when is providing a housing estimate a regulated activity?
- mbroshi 9y agoThis is from the article: "...the fact that they offer market-value estimates and 'are promoted as a tool for potential buyers to use in assessing [the] market value of a given property,' shows that they meet the definition of an appraisal under state law. Not only should Zillow be licensed to perform appraisals before offering such estimates" It can be surprising when seemingly innocuous activities are in fact heavily regulated (cf. Stanford needing to remove all their learning videos from their website).
- ChairmanPao 9y agoBerkeley. But never let the Truth stand in the way of a good story, especially on hacker news.
- wuliwong 9y agoI don't believe the article is correct in the definition of appraisals. A valuation or an approximation of value by impartial, properly qualified persons; the process of determining the value of an asset or liability, which entails expert opinion rather than express commercial transactions. http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/appraisal http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/appraisal
- djrogers 9y agoThe article doesn't have to be correct about the definition, it's about how Illinois regulations define it.
- cwkoss 9y agoWhy did stanford have to take the videos down?
- wuliwong 9y agoIt doesn't look like the did. At least not the ML course https://see.stanford.edu/Course/CS229/47 https://see.stanford.edu/Course/CS229/47 Still has that blistering audio though, wish somebody would regulate that to a lower volume. :)
- WillPostForFood 9y agoOP may have confused Stanford with Berkeley, which was forced to remove thousands of videos because they weren't captioned for the hearing impaired. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13815764 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13815764
- e15ctr0n 9y agoIt wasn't Stanford, it was Berkeley. UC Berkeley makes course video content unavailable to public https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13768856 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13768856 Berkeley Removes 20,000 Free Online Videos to Comply with DOJ Ruling https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13815764 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13815764
- cmiles74 9y agoAt least since 1989. Take a look at the "Appraiser Qualification Board" section. https://www.appraisalfoundation.org/imis/TAF/About_Us/TAF_Boards/TAF/TAF_Boards.aspx?hkey=40ed8f0a-c2de-482e-8bf3-e00eb0db4f93 https://www.appraisalfoundation.org/imis/TAF/About_Us/TAF_Bo...
- JBReefer 9y agoThis is a lawyer, who can sue people at very low cost compared to the rest of us. If this is a regulated activity, it absolutely shouldn't be. This reminds me of the absurd barber regulations.
- JustSomeNobody 9y agoSurely most regulations are in place because someone at some point in time tried to take advantage of someone, yes?
- wuliwong 9y agoNo.
- mcguire 9y agoSource?
- JustSomeNobody 9y agoThen what?
- kevin_b_er 9y agoWhen the value of your $100000, $200000, $300000, or more home can be greatly affected by a someone else's declared valuation of your home, its how you get regulations.
- 9y ago
- lotsofpulp 9y agoIf a homeowner or homebuyer is paying someone to assess the value of a property, requiring expertise and training in inspection of a house such as materials, build quality, plumbing and whatnot, I could understand needing government approval. This is just someone saying what they they think something is worth. Do I need a license before I can say "I think a certain car is only worth $25k instead of $30k"?
- droopyEyelids 9y agoYeah- also what if you make up a brand new word to ensure people see it's not an estimate. A Pulpstimate or something.
- vageli 9y agoOr Zestimate, even.
- JustSomeNobody 9y agoThis isn't the same thing. This would be you putting up a web site that tracks cars and the ones for sale you'd say how much you think it's worth. Do it once, you're just a guy (or gal) saying something. Do it all the time and you become somewhat of an authority figure. That's the difference.
- ghaff 9y agoBut just because you're an authority figure, doesn't mean you have to be licensed. I can have a website where I give financial advice. If I set up a business to give individual advice I may need some sort of certification.
- ghaff 9y agoI think you're assuming way more thoroughness in the typical assessment of a property than is warranted by the practices. At least with respect to real estate taxes, in my experience assessments are pretty mechanical with respect to square footage and standard house features (number of bathrooms, etc.) Assessments are different from inspections. I don't really disagree with you though. There would seem to be a difference between someone being directly paid to assess something, perhaps largely based on standard formulas and practices and a web company providing housing estimates with no contractual relationship.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]