I could do without Zillow

Zillow has become all the rage among busybodies who want to know the value of a home owned by their neighbor, an ex-spouse, the boss or anybody else with a known address. A story in today’s Boston Globe provides all the juicy details.

And, frankly, I wish it hadn’t.

You see this whole business of knowing everybody else’s property value is more than an idle curiosity for those who are smack-dab in the middle of buying or selling a home. And my wife and I are smack-dab in the middle of both, having signed an agreement to buy a house just yesterday and preparing furiously to put ours on the market.

The problem is that Zillow doesn’t think as highly of our current neighborhood as we do.

Moreover, Zillow doesn’t think as highly of the neighborhood as the people who recently bought the comparable house across the street from us.

Someone is wrong, either Zillow or our new neighbors.

And if it turns our to be the neighbors I’m going to be back here in a few weeks rattling a tin cup.