As Puget Sound Business Journal reporter Marc Stiles recently tells readers, “if it looks like there are more construction cranes dotting the city of Seattle’s skyline, it’s because there are.” According to a report released in mid-July by Rider Levett Bucknall, “Seattle’s crane count increased from 45 to 65 from December through May,” which means “Seattle has more cranes than any other U.S. city for the third year in a row.”
Read MoreAs an ever-popular real estate website in the U.S., homeowners and potential buyers have long looked to the Zestimate tool when exploring what a home may be worth. Though it can sometimes provide a helpful starting place, there are also pitfalls to the algorithm-based system, which doesn’t account for system errors and the human element of valuing a home. For example, how is Zillow to know if the owners put thousands of dollars into a brand new, state-of-the-art kitchen? These flaws were recently on display in Washington, as Seattle Times reported that a home in Mason County was over-valued by a staggering 700-percent in its Zestimate.
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