What's your boss's house worth? Zillow can tell you

This article rightly points out how inaccurate/incomplete the information on this home valuator site, Zillow, is, but this site is still very valuable. It's valuable because it's created a model for how a home valuator should work. The inconsistencies will be worked out and eventually this will be the standard. It's a bit scary for people who hold on to and protect their personal financial information like their life depended on it, but transparency is coming.

This could either be the next big thing, or a failed experiment

Prosper.com is a new website/company that has gotten a fair amount of press for it's person to person lending model. First off, I think the idea is terrific. Let people looking for a lower rate loan meet people looking for higher rate of return on their savings and reap a small percentage from the exchange. It's a win, win, win, and disintermediation at its finest. Will it work? The idea, definitely. This particular version of the idea? I think so, if things go well from the start. A couple of deadbeats early on could quash the confidence of on the fence lenders. I will be keeping a close eye on this and may even try it if I come across some loose change.

It's been awhile...Part Deux

I'm going to start this up again. The industry was in the doldrums for awhile; not many new developments or products. It's starting to heat up again, though (prosper.com, zillow.com, etc.), so I'm going to give it another shot.

Stay tuned.