I Would Like to Know (appraisals, mortgage companies, mortgage, condos)
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Zillow isn't worth the paper you can print it on. See the thread starter about a new lawsuit filed against Zillow by Move.org and NAR (National Association of Realtors).
Zillow is great for neighborhood averages and trends. They are worthless for specific home estimates. They have no idea if your home of the comps are filled with mold or gold. No idea if you have a flat usable lot or a cliff behind your house. Cul de sac vs. busy street. Train track vs pure quiet location. Desirable floor plan vs crazy layout. Thus, worthless.
Yes we are in a mobile home,23 by 63 in a nice stable quiet area.The home is completely updated and we have lived in it now for eight years.
Zillow shows what we paid for property in 2005.Is this shown to public?No explanation why,that figure was for mostly property,mobile home at that time on property was a 12 X 52 rental,kind of irritating.
I do appreciate interest.
Zillow "A pure nonsense"? "A big joke"? "Hire an appraiser, he will tell you the 'truth'"!
Really?
Actually, Zillow creates its estimates exactly the same way as an appraiser - looks at the comps, and calculates the approximate value. The more similar comps, the more precise the estimate. The main difference is that Zillow uses an automated process that allows it go through more comps faster than an appraiser ever will. On the downside, as it has been correctly pointed out, sometime the data Zillow gets is inaccurate, and results in faulty appraisal. As any techie will tell you "garbage in, garbage out"
But the vitriolic reaction towards Zillow is to be expected.
Sellers complain "How dare you Zillow to appraise my beautiful castle so low!"
Buyers complain "Zillow in cahoots with the sellers artificially inflates the home prices!"
Ignore Zillow at your own peril. Zestimate is among the first things potential buyer looks at when they become seriously interested in your house. Over-inflate your price and they will turn in disgust from the "greedy seller".
You must work for Zillow because this is just a bunch of hogwash.
Location: Winter nightime low 60,summer daytime high 85, sunny 300 days/year, no hablamos ingles aquÃ
700 posts, read 1,498,963 times
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Quote:
Im not sure why all the hate for it.
There are 2 kinds of people. The first kind got A's in high school\college math and science.
They understand the complexity of the problem at hand, and appreciate the effort to solve it, even if the outcome is not 'perfect'.
Well, and then there is the other kind, posting anti-Zillow rants.
For my mom's neighborhood with 4 styles of cookie cutter houses it does a great job for the general range. Now it can not tell if a house is updated or original 1960's so it can be off if the house has personal issues, but for a generally kept up house it is pretty accurate.
For my neighborhood, which is a mountain resort, no homes the same, it is way off. Zillow can not tell that a home has no parking, that there is a level entry from parking or 40 stairs to get to the front door and these things change the price a lot in this community. It also does not seem to care if a home is walking distance from the lake or village(stores) or out in the boonies. For my home it also took a HELOC as a 'sold' price and has way over estimated my homes value, because of the large square footage.
I don't really pay attention to Zillow estimates. I can see what they are trying to do -- I minored in stats in college -- but it's basically garbage in, garbage out in so many cases. Using tax records in many areas is not accurate, especially when you consider all the tax-breaks many areas have (homestead, elderly, etc., etc.) that artificially reduce taxes, therefore give skewed values. There are other algorithms, considering sales, etc. (but not including items like seller paid closing costs, etc.), or intrinsic values such as school district, curb appeal, etc. There's just waaaay too many variables to stick 'em in a computer and expect it to get it right.
What I don't understand is why so many people get so torqued at Zillow estimates. I mean, really, what effect do they really have on your life?
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