Zillow on the lookout for data scientists to improve Zestimate

Data scientists, engineers and visionaries – want $1 million?

Zillow on the lookout for data scientists to improve Zestimate
Zillow recently launched the Zillow Prize, a $1 million award for improving the company’s Zestimate algorithm, according to a news release.

The award will be given to the first person or team who can improve Zillow’s home valuation tool, Zestimate, which the company uses for automated home valuations of 110 million American homes.

"We still spend enormous resources on improving the Zestimate, and are proud that with advancements in machine learning and cloud computing, we've brought the error rate down to 5% nationwide," said Stan Humphries, creator of the Zestimate home valuation and Zillow Group chief analytics officer. "While that error rate is incredibly low, we know the next round of innovation will come from imaginative solutions involving everything from deep learning to hyperlocal data sets – the type of work perfect for crowdsourcing within a competitive environment."

Interested participants have until Oct. 16 to register for the qualifying round. The contest has two rounds – the public qualifying round began Wednesday and will end on Jan. 17; the private round will begin Feb. 1 and will end Jan. 15, 2019.

Recently, a real estate lawyer sued the online real estate marketplace, saying Zestimates underestimated the worth of the townhouse she was selling by using newly constructed homes from a less costly part of town to compare with her townhouse, making its Zestimate plummet to $562,000 from her selling price of $626,000.

Click here for more information on Zillow Prize.


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