Everyone has now heard of Zillow. Its been on almost every talk show, news program and in just about every newspaper. Zillow is a website that combines a lot of previously available information on real estate and makes it very easy to determine housing values and many other neat things. Here are some of the amazing things you can now do with Zillow:

1) Current estimated home value. This is very handy as it can help you if you are in the market for a house, want to sell a house, or just want to know the appreciation of your house, your neighbors house, or your neighborhood as a whole. Just enter your zip code and address and you will get your current value, last sale prices, and a link to get the tax figures. This is great to know if you are buying a house. You can see what it is really worth, not just what they are asking and the realtor, whom is just looking to make a sale, is saying. Its similar to knowing the invoice price on a new car.

2) Map of current area. You can do either a street or satellite map of the area. This map will show you values of adjacent homes when zoomed in. It will also tell you property sizes, square footage and dimensions so you know the property boundaries. You can see what stores you are near, proximity to the interstates, parks, schools, YMCA, etc... The possibilities are endless.

3) Zestimate Rankings. If you click on a home it will give you an estimated value of that home and also where that home falls in the range for that zip code or area. This is invaluable as real estate has 2 all important rules - location, location, location and always be on the lower end of the range of houses so it is easy to sell if you should want or need to move. With the maps and zooming you can see how close or far you are to everything. The Zestimate Rankings will specifically state at what percentage (ie 23%) the current home is at in sale price or value.

4) Trend graphs. This is neat as you can see the appreciation for a particular home and compare it to other homes in the area, city, county, and across the USA. This helps forecast future values and trends. You can see if an area is actually going down or depreciating (could be due to an increase in crime, bad sales, industry, etc...) This is essential when considering a neighborhood to purchase a house in.

5) Zestimator. You can add or detract from the value of the home for additions and major upgrades. You can also see what effect each addition type (kitchen remodel, additional room, etc...) would have.

There you have it - Zillow, how to use it, and what it can do for you. Zillow will change house buying similar to what the internet did to car buying and invoice pricing. Save money next time you think about house shopping and stack the deck in your favor.