This is just someone saying what they they think something is worth. Do I need a license before I can say "I think a certain car is only worth $25k instead of $30k"?
I've seen how appraisers appraise, and this comment brought out a laugh.
Their estimate is really no better than Zillow's.
They spend about 15-20 minutes looking at the property. They primarily measure dimensions and look at cosmetic stuff (no "inspection" whatsoever). Then they look at comparables and make an appraisal.
I asked one of them how they handle various items in their appraisal (solar panels, etc). The answer? "I have no idea what to do with those things, so I just ignore them."
The reality is many buyers will value stuff that the appraiser just plain ignores. This causes problems because the seller cannot increase their price due to those items - when it comes time for the buyer to get a loan, the appraisal will come out lower than the sale price and the bank won't approve.
I recall when I bought my house, the real estate agent had access to the appraiser.
Lots and lots of problems with the appraisal business. I don't know how much they make, but it's a good racket to get into that requires minimal work and pays well ($400-800 per appraisal - they spend more time driving to houses than examining them).
Assessments are different from inspections.
I don't really disagree with you though. There would seem to be a difference between someone being directly paid to assess something, perhaps largely based on standard formulas and practices and a web company providing housing estimates with no contractual relationship.
So I would say Zestimates are clearly illegal according to the plain text of the law. However, I suspect this is one of those laws where a judge would find a convoluted reading to support his or her gut opinion that finding Zestimates illegal is ridiculous. I think you could also make a pretty reasonable claim that the freedom to form an opinion about the value of something is an unenumerated, but nonetheless inalienable right, and therefore the law is unconstitutional.
Not a lawyer.
Now, you might argue that there are market based or self-regulated solutions to that, and that's reasonable (fact is that a lot of the industry goes off 'de facto' standards for valuing cars, like KBB), but the fact is that sometimes a government regulation is necessary to prevent anticonsumer or anticompetitive practices, especially in the finance industry.
I can have a website where I give financial advice. If I set up a business to give individual advice I may need some sort of certification.