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Some 3 months ago there was a BIG promotion on a Zillow blog that 'self proclaimed housing expert' Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoffs home in Seattle was being listed for just under $1.3M by a Realtor who also sits on the Zillow Board of Directors. He also published a Blog about the importance of pricing the home correctly and in line with Zillows Zestimate. Well 2 months later the price was reduced by $65K to $1.23M and it seems that still no interest despite all the promotion by Zillow and its BoD Realtor.
The latest plan to shift the home is a Zillow "Special Offer" of $8K which seems irrelevant on a home over $1M but, which will over complicate the closing process as it is NOT a price reduction per se. In the meantime as the E. Maddison Street home languishes on the Realtor's books the Zestimate soars from $1.3M at time of listing to $1.44M today. Am I the only person who questions the authenticity of the original Zestimate? Could it possibly have been manipulated? (This comment is based purely on the Blogs saying how important to price just under the Zestimated value.) How on earth does it continue to increase as the List price drops by 5%? OR, is it just typical of the strange movements in Zillow Zestimates that people have commented about on other Zestimate threads on this Forum? Maybe it is representative all all the Zestimate failings when 17% are more than 25% inaccurate and the Median Error Rate is 8%.
Seems to be a Case Study on the implications of inaccurate Zestimates. the fact the Zestimate was higher than original List price means it will fall outside the 'price range' parameters in potential buyers searches. As the List Price reduces and the Zestimate increases it only exaggerates that issue. It will be interesting how this all ends and what price the home finally sells for as currently it is 15.4% below the Zestimate.
I think what you'll find is in an area like Madison Park selling a home that is directly on the busiest street in the neighborhood is going to be more difficult than average. 95% of the people who live there wouldn't even consider buying a home directly on E Madison st, and if you can afford to live there, you can afford to be picky.
I'm looking at the listing, and it's a somewhat remodeled 1990's contemporary on a 3 lane road. Nobody wants houses in that style for the most part unless they're dirt cheap. Yes, it's Madison Park, but this house is well below average desirability for the neighborhood.
Not to mention, it was sold in 2005 for $768K, so asking $500K over that is fairly optimistic. You can't really expect zillow's AVM to know exactly what to discount for the style, proximity to a 3 lane road and odd shaped lot.
I think what you'll find is in an area like Madison Park selling a home that is directly on the busiest street in the neighborhood is going to be more difficult than average. 95% of the people who live there wouldn't even consider buying a home directly on E Madison st, and if you can afford to live there, you can afford to be picky.
I'm looking at the listing, and it's a somewhat remodeled 1990's contemporary on a 3 lane road. Nobody wants houses in that style for the most part unless they're dirt cheap. Yes, it's Madison Park, but this house is well below average desirability for the neighborhood.
Not to mention, it was sold in 2005 for $768K, so asking $500K over that is fairly optimistic. You can't really expect zillow's AVM to know exactly what to discount for the style, proximity to a 3 lane road and odd shaped lot.
Very true, but based on the last purchase price of $768K and the $877K Tax Value it is surprising the AVM would compute a $1.44M Zestimate which is why I wondered if any manipulation? Today when I clicked the link you kindly provided I saw the price has been reduced by a further $31K to $1.199M and also the Zillow "Special Offer" of a further $8K reduction.
Even more interesting the Zestimate dropped by a whopping $128K in last 24 hours with Zillow saying the 30 day change was a drop of $71K. The Zestimate still overvalues the home by $120K and the revised List Price is conveniently the same as the bottom the Zestimate 'Range Value' of $1.19M. Once again the question of manual manipulation has to be asked - especially when the Zestimate graphical representation doesn't show any Zestimate reduction at all. Seems lots of questions about this listing and Zestimates in particular. Is it any wonder that there is so much distrust of Zillow Zestimates and Zillows claims that they DO NOT manually change them? Maybe its all just a coincidence?
Expensive housing like that in an area where the average house sells for 40% less will naturally not move as quick. Homeowner can price his house at whatever he likes. Ultimately it depends how long people are willing to wait.
How many new threads do we need just so you can complain about Zillow?
These are no longer information just pure 100% a Customer Complaint about a business!
You got me....I don't follow these Zillow posts so I'm not aware of the OP's history. I looked at the 135 posts over the past few years and every single one was about Zillow. I didn't read them so I don't know what the OP thinks of them, although I gather s/he is not a fan, but this has to be some sort of C-D record!
Very true, but based on the last purchase price of $768K and the $877K Tax Value it is surprising the AVM would compute a $1.44M Zestimate which is why I wondered if any manipulation? Today when I clicked the link you kindly provided I saw the price has been reduced by a further $31K to $1.199M and also the Zillow "Special Offer" of a further $8K reduction.
Even more interesting the Zestimate dropped by a whopping $128K in last 24 hours with Zillow saying the 30 day change was a drop of $71K. The Zestimate still overvalues the home by $120K and the revised List Price is conveniently the same as the bottom the Zestimate 'Range Value' of $1.19M. Once again the question of manual manipulation has to be asked - especially when the Zestimate graphical representation doesn't show any Zestimate reduction at all. Seems lots of questions about this listing and Zestimates in particular. Is it any wonder that there is so much distrust of Zillow Zestimates and Zillows claims that they DO NOT manually change them? Maybe its all just a coincidence?
I know nothing about this area but if its on a busy street and other homes in the area are selling for more that aren't on a busy street, those sales will go into the zestimate algorithm.
That said, you should be happy if it doesn't sell for a long time or for a lot lower price, because it would show that most people don't care about the zestimate, and neither should you. But I'm sure Mr Rascoff appreciates you advertising his house for free!
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