Zillow data describes the new rules of real estate

The Case-Shiller Index tells us that metro Atlanta home values are up 44 percent from March 2012 — which is still down 12 percent from a July 2007 peak. The average sales price of metro area homes was $243,000 in January, according to Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. As we move into the season of buying and selling, which happens around late March in Atlanta, areas with low inventory and high demand could have a rosy outlook — or it could all totally backfire.

Real estate has been a sensitive topic over the past five years, and according to at least two experts, the rules have changed. In their new book, they offer tools to help you navigate with knowledge. “Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate,” by Spencer Rascoff and Stan Humphries (Grand Central Publishing, $28), translates years of data on the housing market into usable information for buyers and sellers. If you don’t know, Zillow is the (almost) 10-year-old real estate website of which Rascoff is CEO and Humphries is chief economist.

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