As noted by Altos Research and FOREM, there’s a new kid on the AVM block — My-Currency .com (don’t forget the “-” ) . For predictive firepower, it depends on the “Wisdom of Crowds” concept popularized by James Surowiecki in his eponymous book. The idea, as thought-provoking as it is controversial, is that if you create an appropriate bidding environment, in which market participants drive collective wisdom by “buying” and “selling,” that collective wisdom is often more accurate than the insights of any one expert.
Confused? My-Currency trades in real estate futures. It lists properties for sale — at this stage only a handful — and then challenges you to predict what the final selling price of that property will be. The aggregate of these predictions is the “CrowdValue.” Once the property sale consummates, the actual selling price gets compared against the predictions, and those who were best at estimating get paid in “reputation currency.”
I gave it a test spin and entered a local Palo Alto property, 359 Creekside in Palo Alto (link will be active only until the property sells). With the market here going crazy again, it’s pretty easy to predict that the final price will be above the list price, but unfortunately last year’s rule — final price is roughly 2% per bid above the list price — is no longer as trustworthy, so it’s anybody’s guess exactly how much the property will sell for. The property I entered is listed at just under $1.2M, and my estimate is a tad above $1.35M.
?RE: Any thoughts on the feds (in)activity this morning?? August 5 at 9:46 pm 
�Good news, your equity line and business line of credit rates remain the same as yesterday, as the Fed held short-term rates steady today. Why? Because despite unemployment concerns, the economy is doing fine (1.4% growth year to date-- thank you exports!), core inflation is under control at this point, gas prices have dropped over 6% recently and it's more prudent to maintain a steady helm when the economy appears relatively balanced. Eric T. Trailer, Principal
