From 'Z' to 'A': Zillow Advice

Online real estate company Zillow today rolled out a new feature that allows consumers to pose questions to its online community of real estate experts.

"Zillow Advice," available at the "Advice" tab on the Zillow.com Web site, also allows users to add a tag to each question to specify a topic or geographic area.

The new feature builds on Q&A and discussions sections of the site -- Zillow's community generates 40,000 contributions per day, on average, according to the announcement.

The sputtering economy apparently hasn't knocked down traffic to the site. Rich Barton, the company's CEO and co-founder,  said in a statement that unique visitors at the site are up 44 percent year-over-year. "It's clear more people than ever are searching for answers."

He said that the advice tool will allow consumers and real estate professionals to interact on very specific topics at the local level.

Consumers who ask questions can designate which responses represent the "best answer" to their questions, and those community members who supply numerous "best answers" can eventually receive a "Local Expert Badge" designation to note their assistance to other users.

Trulia.com, another real estate site, allows users of its Trulia Voices community section to specify which users contribute the best answers.

The Zillow Advice section offers keyword search capability so that users can hone in on specific questions and discussions.

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