Zillow.com reveals venture. Will allow anyone to calculate value of any home.

After months of intense speculation within the real-estate industry, the newest player on the block, supersecretive http://www.Zillow.com , will announce today that it’s rolling out a Web feature that eventually will allow anyone nearly anywhere in the nation to accurately calculate the worth of their home or almost any home they choose.

Seattle-based Zillow is the brainchild of Rich Barton, the former Microsoft executive who created Expedia in 1994. It revolutionized the travel industry by transforming it from a service-oriented business into a self-service business. Expedia brought in $1.6 billion in revenue for the nine months ended Sept. 30.

By Elizabeth Rhodes

Seattle Times staff reporter

Full Story: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002791211_zillow08.html

***

2 Web Sites Push Further Into Services Real Estate Agents Offer

By DAMON DARLIN

Two real estate Web sites are starting to offer services that could change the way real estate is bought and sold online.

One site, http://www.Zillow.com, which will be introduced today, will help consumers obtain more accurate real estate sales information — to the consternation of some real estate agents.

A smaller site, http://www.Redfin.com, introduced an unusual new service last week that might be even more disruptive to the real estate industry: the feature automates the process of bidding on a house online.

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/business/08real.html?_r=1&oref=slogin