[dynimagelv]

ALways wondered exactly what a ZILLOW was......is that a pillow with a zit??????

[Eric Young]

A couple of times I included the Zillow Estimate on my sales flyers for my listing (Zillow Estimate: $485,000 / Yours for Just $279,000!!!).

I don't think it made any difference (it's usually neighbors that grab the flyers, anyway) and I stopped after a very short time because it just felt dirty!!

[jfkIII]

ummm, Eric....it was dirty!

[Eric Young]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

ummm, Eric....it was dirty!

It was, JFK - and I really wrestled with it, too!

[jfkIII]

It's ok...you're Young....literally!

[Greatday]

Originally Posted by dude66

Uh. Right.

The Fed just injected $41 billion into the markets today, a day after cutting the rates -- yet more credit crunch problems. Oil is nearing $100/barrel. The value of the dollar is plummeting, and along with it, the purchasing power of every American.

Yep - right

With the Fed cutting rates yesterday, your credit card interest will go down. There will also be downward pressure on your ARM

30 year fixed rate interest is very low - and is going lower

Housing has become more affordable

Unemployment is very low - and there is a pent up demand to buy homes -

New FHA guidelines are going to make it MUCH easier for individuals to qualify for a new home loan - AND, it is going to make it MUCH, MUCH easier for homeowners to get rid of those ARMS -

In Las Vegas specifically, development of commercial property continues - especially on the strip. New resort properties - new retail properties - and new employmeent opportunites are being created

So yes, there is a lot of good news

It is not all "Gloom and Doom" as some seem to think it is

[coolricks]

Originally Posted by Greatday

Yep - right
New FHA guidelines are going to make it MUCH easier for individuals to qualify for a new home loan - AND, it is going to make it MUCH, MUCH easier for homeowners to get rid of those ARMS -

You got that right, I'm closing in two weeks, FHA, got the builder pay for Closing and Down payment, n ow about the rate??? 6.375 sounds good?

[Terri B]

I did not make myself clear. The numbers I am referring to from cyberhomes are ACTUAL CLOSES. I verified them with the assessor's site. Cyberhomes does have actual CLOSES. The estimates for what a home is valued at for all of these free websites tend to be high, HOWEVER, they do have actual CLOSES. Cyberhomes pulls their ACTUAL CLOSES from Fidelity Title (they own the site).

[Eric Young]

Originally Posted by Terri B

I did not make myself clear. The numbers I am referring to from cyberhomes are ACTUAL CLOSES. I verified them with the assessor's site. Cyberhomes does have actual CLOSES. The estimates for what a home is valued at for all of these free websites tend to be high, HOWEVER, they do have actual CLOSES. Cyberhomes pulls their ACTUAL CLOSES from Fidelity Title (they own the site).

No, I was unclear in my response. Fidelity and, by extension, Cyberhomes, have full access to public records.

The issue is not whether their software is pulling from public records or not—it is. The issue is whether or not their software is pulling all the closings that are relevant to your search.

In the case of the property that I pulled from Cyberhomes, it failed to list as a comp a very similar home within two hundred yards that closed in September. My guess is that the algorithm ignored it because it was 200 SF larger than the target property. However, it was especially relevant because it was sold for a substantial lower price than an identical match that sold several months earlier.

I am the furthest thing from a software designer, but it seems to me the most likely reasons that sites like Zillow and Cyberhomes return so many bad estimates is either a bad algorithm selecting of comparables, a bad algorithm assigning relative weight to the selected comparables, or both.

In the neighborhood that you searched, if there are two comparables that sold for $350k each and Cyberhomes failed to select them for you, any conclusions you might draw could be wildly innaccurate. Worse still, you have no way of knowing what the algorithm’s search criteria are or if it excluded relevant data.

Even if I was doing it for purely personal reasons, I personally wouldn’t even consider using a site that is so frequently off by huge percentages. It might feel like I’m saving time, but if the results are useless, then even five minutes is a waste.

I’d be interested in hearing the comments of any one else that’s in the business.

[Terri B]

Well, I got luck, the ones I did find were very similar to mine. Have done tons of research at the assessor's site. Really tough finding anything selling in the month of 1007 and 0907. I am just a homeowner trying to make my way through all of this.