For those who are unfamiliar, Zillow is an American real estate site, where people post houses for sale. It has gotten popular due to a combination of utility and the many weird, bizarre, or downright creative listings one can find if they browse long enough. One popular feature is the “Zestimate,” where Zillow will take the information you provide about a property and make its best guess of its value.

While not a perfect indicator of the price one should ask for, it can be a fun way to quickly learn what a unit is worth without paying a realtor to assess it. This could be a sort of reversal of window shopping, it is instead window selling, where one can satisfy the curiosity of prices just for future reference. 

While it is just a “fun” feature, the Wall Street Journal found it to be surprisingly accurate, however, they did warn potential sellers to still get a “professional” estimate, as, in their words, “when Zillow is bad, it can be terrible." Since real estate is a pretty big deal for most of us, probably not worth risking a terrible asking price. One 2016 study found that, on average, the Zestimate was off by about $14’000.

But for many, the real draw of the site is the ability to just browse to your heart's content. It’s a pretty unique experience, to take a walk through literally thousands of homes across the US. Some people like finding listings of buildings near them to satisfy their craving to be a nosy neighbor, while others perhaps enjoy seeing how massive, expensive houses look. 

Of course, not all mansions are created equally. A simple drive around some more “upscale” suburban areas will reveal a type of large, but somewhat ugly building commonly referred to as a McMansion. These buildings are infamous for using architectural techniques from real castles and mansions, but with cheap, mass-produced materials. They tend to appear copy-pasted across the landscape, hence the fast-food-like moniker at the front of the word. 

Other terms include "garage Mahal", "starter castle", and "Hummer house," which instantly dates the concept to a time when one could just buy a Hummer. These buildings were probably the clearest and classic representations of new money, as they had the “form” of wealth, without the style, class, or refinement. Not to mention, real mansions tend to have extensive grounds and don’t have twenty or so identical buildings on the same street. 

Zillow and McMansions have even been featured together in a blog titled “McMansion Hell,” which parodied the absolutely horrible homes of the wealthy. The blog mostly mocked the design choices, but also advised readers to not purchase these homes as they tend to make poor financial investments. It was so effective that Zillow actually issued a cease and desist letter, though the company later chose to not pursue legal action. 

Of course, the majority of listings on Zillow are just normal homes of regular people, the sort one could imagine in their head without much difficulty. But the site's popularity is driven by the sort of content seen here, weird choices by realtors, homeowners who had “unique” ideas, or design choices so terrible that someone should have been fired. If you want to keep seeing these sorts of homes, Bored Panda has got you covered, check out our previous articles here, here, and here.