Real estate appraisers — the people who value homes before a bank hands out a mortgage — could be in danger of having their jobs wiped out by technological advances. Just as farm workers lost jobs to machinery, and robots killed off factory-based work, automation is creeping into home appraisal. Zillow Group claims it has developed algorithms that can both gather facts about neighborhood values, but also more nuanced price indicators — like whether or not a living room... [read more]