online services

Zillow Can Keep Zestimating

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are zillow zestimates accurate

If you have had even an inkling of interest in real estate in the last few years, you have probably heard of Zillow, the online real estate website. It’s one of many online financial services shaking up the game like the Acorns savings app, or the Digit app. Zillow built its audience on the concept of a Zestimate, and online, computer-based algorithm that provides an estimate of the value of your home. People love seeing what their house is “worth” today, this month, and over time. The Zestimate is updated as often as the algorithm gets new data. Are Zestimates Real Estimates? Zillow has had to fight off people from the real estate industry who don’t like the company giving people ideas that makes it harder to earn that real estate commission. Sometimes, it makes people think their house is worth too much, and sometimes it makes people think the house they want to buy is overpriced. Either way, that is a headache for realtors and real estate agents. According to a recent lawsuit, it also caused problems for home builders who accused Zillow of hurting their ability to get the proper sale price for their homes by publishing Zestimates …

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BillGuard Safe and Legit?

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BillGuard is an online financial services company that monitors your credit cards for fraudulent charges. On the surface, this sounds like something you don’t need. After all, if you see credit fraud on your bill you are going to do something about it. However, in this fast-paced world, it is all too common for people to neglect to verify all of their charges, especially the smaller ones. BillGuard Scam? First, I like to see if something is a scam before looking further. After all, if you are throwing your money away, it really doesn’t matter how good of a job they do. In this case, there are some concerns, but it would be hard to call the service a scam. No credit card number or PayPal account is required, so there is no way for the company to charge you for some subscription or offer. Second, the company never asks for your Social Security number either. It does ask for some usernames and passwords, but we’ll get to that in a second. Finally, the company just raised $10 million from some well-known venture capitalists. That doesn’t mean, in itself, that the company is legitimate. However, there are a lot of …

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