Class-action suit aims to halt Zestimates in Illinois

Crain's Chicago Business reports:

A family of northwest suburban builders filed legal action last week to stop Zillow from posting its estimates of the value of Illinois homes.

The Zestimates that Zillow posts are misleading and pose as accurate appraisals in violation of Illinois' legal description of an appraisal, according to the class action complaint filed by three members of the Patel family and Schaumburg-based CastleBldrs.com. They claim homebuyers read the estimate as an appraisal, regardless of whether it is.

"Buyers tell us Zillow says a certain number for this house, and that's the number they're willing to pay," said Vip Patel, who joined his father, B.T. Patel, and mother. J.B. Patel, the owner of CastleBldrs.com, in the class action complaint, filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

Vip Patel, who's been building homes for 15 years, said that "in our experience, Zillow is always at least 20 percent lower than the home's market value, but that's the number they have planted in the buyer's head."

A free speech case???