10 July—Earlier this week the USPS’s infallible scanner in Springfield printed the wrong destination code on an envelope not addressed to me or my extortionate PO box. So, after giving the wayward envelope to the appreciative clerk on duty, being curious (i.e., nosy), I googled the addressee.

And this is what came up on the Litchfield municipal website for the addressee’s property tax and on three real estate websites for the address:

According to the Town of Litchfield, the real property in question has a net and gross assessment of $567,230. The gross assessment represents the statutory 70 percent of the property’s strict (presumably appraised) valuation; the net assessment reflects local exemptions, deductions, and credits, as for veterans and poor old folks. Evidently the addressee-property owner is neither a veteran nor old and poor. And the tax, due 1 July but billed dilatorily and in all events not delinquent until 4 August, which is irrelevant, is $11,628.

The street address comes up on the three biggest real estate websites. As off market, of course. And this is what they say:

Zillow.com, the biggest of the real estate websites by visitor traffic, cautiously lists only the “tax assessed value,” which of course is $567,230, rather than even a Zestimate®, which Zillow says is its “estimate of a home’s market value, incorporating public records, MLS data and user-submitted home details into Zillow’s proprietary home valuation model.” But Zillow warns that a Zestimate “is not an appraisal and can’t be used in place of an appraisal.” Fair enough, but “shouldn’t be used in place of an appraisal” would be more to the point because people are people. And since the property is off market, there are no user-subitted details.

Next, Realtor.com, which is actually owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp but licenses the Realtor trademark from the National Association of REALTORS® and is right behind Zillow.com in visitor traffic, lists the property’s “estimated value,” “based on tax assessment records, recent sales prices of comparable properties, and other factors.” And that estimated value is $693,000. You wonder what the comps and other obviously deep dark secret factors are.

Last, Redfin.com, smallest of the big three real estate websites visitorwise, estimates the property at $1,015,109, adding that it’s “up $675K since last sold,” “up $91K since June,” and that “this home’s estimate is 114.7% higher than the average sale price ($473K) of 5 comparable homes.” You wonder about the Redfin algorithm’s choice of comps, too, as well as its adjustment algorithms. The seven-figure price certainly makes sense. But up $91K just since last month?

And if you’re wondering, the property in question was indeed last sold for $340,000. In 1995 . . .