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When I sold my house last year, it was off by about 50K but we were in a super hot market with bidding wars so I don't really blame them for being off in that case. For the house I bought, it was about 200K higher than our purchase price but funny enough, on our appraisal - the house was worth 200K more than what we bought it for (yes, I did get deal of my life with this house!). So technically, the zillow estimate matched the appraisal in that case.
For my property, it was was about 5% higher than the sale price. ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by jghorton
Frankly, if a Zillow estimate is 5-percent higher than what you actually sold the property for, it's served it's intended purpose. ...
I'd opine that +-5% is fantastic accuracy!
Two data points: first, a house that I sold several years ago... generic and nondescript neighborhood, in an otherwise thriving market. House much akin to neighboring houses... a bit worn, but with recent cosmetic updates. Sold for about 10% below the Zestimate. I consider that to be tolerably accurate.
Second, my current house. The Zestimate shows slight (but still invigorating) price-appreciation since I bought the place. I totally disbelieve this. If I could sell the house for 50% of the Zestimate, I'd consider it to be a disappointment, but acceptable. If I could sell for 70% of the Zestimate, I'd be ecstatic! This BTW is in a rural area, where neighboring properties can differ by a factor of 3 (or more) in price, and where turnover is low. Most of my neighbors have been here for decades... and when I say "decades", I mean the better part of a century.
If you live in a new-ish suburban development with an HOA where there are 4 floorplans and 4 elevations but all the houses are generally about the same size/niceness, then the "zestimate" is pretty accurate.
If you live in an older neighborhood without cookie-cutter houses it can't be accurate. My house was built in 1931 but we renovated the whole thing: new electric, new plumbing, sesimic retrofit, etc. The house next door has had none of that done. But because both houses were built in the 1930s and both are brick tudors, and they've both about the same sq ft, zillow gives us a pretty similar "zestimate" but if both houses were on the market at the same time we'd get a lot more for ours since everything has been updated to modern standards. Zillow can't know that.
I think the accuracy of the Zestimates vary by region. They don't seem too far off where I am. We bought our house for less than 1% difference in what Zillow estimated. You can also look at recent sales in your area and see how they compare to the Zestimate. I'm sure they're wildly different in plenty of places, but they're fairly close here, assuming there isn't something goofy going on with the house.
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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Seattle area: We were buyers, Summer 2017 and 2018. Z underestimated. Seattle is not a normal or typical US market. Our Seattle RE agent tries to get a handle on fair value but she admits its just a guess: SFH and Condos expect a bid auction. New Builds at Ask price of slightly above Ask. We have bought 4 properties through this agent.
MidValley Ore: Seller. Z had no estimate for bareland. Our RE agent had problems in coming up with a market value. We ended up starting high and then worked down.
I have 4 homes to mention under contract at the moment, where I represent the Buyer:
1. Zestimate about 3% low, house still active, the Zestimate doesn't appear below the asking price.
2. Zest about 3% low, house shows under contract, Zestimate right under price.
3. Zest about right, house under contract, zestimate right there
4. Zillow shows "Off Market" with no record of being for sale, Zest about right.
So, among the other cautionary tales - Sellers should definitely ask their agents "Will my house be on Zillow?" Because they don't all make it there - I've seen Zillow not catch houses that were listed on our MLS.
I have 4 homes to mention under contract at the moment, where I represent the Buyer:
1. Zestimate about 3% low, house still active, the Zestimate doesn't appear below the asking price.
2. Zest about 3% low, house shows under contract, Zestimate right under price.
3. Zest about right, house under contract, zestimate right there
4. Zillow shows "Off Market" with no record of being for sale, Zest about right.
So, among the other cautionary tales - Sellers should definitely ask their agents "Will my house be on Zillow?" Because they don't all make it there - I've seen Zillow not catch houses that were listed on our MLS.
Only about 50% of agent members of TMLS allow their listings to go to Zillow.
Buyers should be extremely skeptical regarding the comprehensiveness of inventory they think they are seeing on Z.
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