Erasing a Home’s Risks on Zillow Doesn’t Make Them Go Away
Homebuyers need better information about climate risks.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
We live in a golden age of magical thinking, and I’m not just talking about the trillions of dollars being burned on artificial intelligence. When it comes to our rapidly heating planet and its effects on our future, too many of us have adopted a strategy of simply ignoring reality to make it go away.
Consider the news that listings on the real estate site Zillow will no longer include climate-risk ratings from the private data firm First Street. The ratings scored each home on its likelihood of being affected by wildfires, floods, high winds, extreme heat and air pollution. As reported by the New York Times, the decision follows complaints by homeowners and realtors that the listings were hurting sale prices.