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I have used Zillow a number of times, and I'm sure there are times when it is fairly close, and others when it is pretty far off.
We live in a nice little pocket called Sparr Heights near Montrose, CA. It seems to have held its value relatively well. It consists of older homes, with a blend of Spanish, ranch and cottage style homes on about seven or eight streets. Most homes are pretty small, but the schools are good and Montrose is a great little town to walk to for eating out, etc.
Zillow has our little house (3/2, 1320 square feet) down into the 5's, currently listed at $595k. We are about a week from moving out, and the sale closed at $699k. A little bit off is one thing, but Zillow has it listed at about 85% of the price in which it sold. That's a pretty large margin for error.
I'm glad our buyers were going by comps and real estate expertise, and not trying to use a tool like Zillow to accurately put in an offer.
It's common knowledge that Zillow is not to be used as a tool, but rather as a ballpark. *shrug* Especially since a homeowner can go into it and edit the home's value and details.
The way zillow computes it's prices is it compares sale price of similiar homes to assessed value according to your county tax assesor. In your case, your home sold at a higher ratio (sale value:assessed value) than your neighbors.
Location: In the North Idaho woods, still surrounded by terriers
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Zillow is several years behind on my house. I have added two additions and a double garage since the photo was taken and it is worth about 30% to 40% more than that state.
The way zillow computes it's prices is it compares sale price of similiar homes to assessed value according to your county tax assesor. In your case, your home sold at a higher ratio (sale value:assessed value) than your neighbors.
Good job!
Zillow can only do that where they have access to the "sold" information. In a non-disclosure state like Texas, they have to go by the tax assessor's records (and those don't have automatic access to the "sold" data, either, though they do try to get new purchasers of homes to tell them, it's not at all mandatory) and by the list price. I don't consider them even reasonable for a ballpark, here.
IMO, Zillow is a lead generating website for all the advertisers on there. Not an accurate tool for buyers or sellers.
For example, Texas is a non-disclosure state so the sold information is not made public only the loan amount. Zillow shows the loan amount and that messes up the numbers when buyers are using the site for comps.. then we "Realtors" have to explain to the buyers and sellers how Zillow is ineffective here etc. etc.
I just got a listing for a home that has comparables between 450K and 510K.. The owners wanted to list the house at 710K because Zillow had a "Zestimate of " 710K...
It's common knowledge that Zillow is not to be used as a tool, but rather as a ballpark. *shrug* Especially since a homeowner can go into it and edit the home's value and details.
A 100k difference (595k to 699k) is a rather large ballpark, don't you think?
IMO, Zillow is a lead generating website for all the advertisers on there. Not an accurate tool for buyers or sellers.
For example, Texas is a non-disclosure state so the sold information is not made public only the loan amount. Zillow shows the loan amount and that messes up the numbers when buyers are using the site for comps.. then we "Realtors" have to explain to the buyers and sellers how Zillow is ineffective here etc. etc.
I just got a listing for a home that has comparables between 450K and 510K.. The owners wanted to list the house at 710K because Zillow had a "Zestimate of " 710K...
Naima
Absolutely!
Zillow is NOT a real estate site. It is an advertising venue, that victimizes those who take it seriously as a real estate information site.
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