I'm hoping some people who know much about real estate can comment. I checked a few houses that I know pretty well and the estimates for the values was either way higher or way lower than I would have expected but I am no expert. Other people I know swear by it. Hoping to get some good information on how accurate the home estimates are.
It's like the PFF of real estate.
My loan appraisal wasn't exactly like the zillow estimate, but it was close enough to help us do our shopping.
Second, they also factor the SOLD prices of houses that just recently sold in your relative surrounding areas. As an example, the last two months, Zillow's estimated price has increased in our house by $14k. When I look into public records why Zillow did that, I see recently sold similar houses in our neighborhood that bumped the estimated price of our house the last two months.
It's a good ballpark based on average cost/sq ft of a given area but they won't take into account features that aren't quantified in public records. Example - two houses in the same development that are of similar size will have a similar estimate, even if one is all original features and needs updating, while the other has a number of updates ( remodeled kitchen, new systems, better lot location).
I'm not sure it takes into account special circumstances around recent sales either. In our small neighborhood we had, in a matter of about 9 months, 2 short sales and 2 quick cash out "sales" due to divorces all of which reflect less than market value. Our estimate absolutely plunged (about 15%) over this period.
Zillow, Trulia, Redfin, Realtor, Estately and other sites have filters setup with real time agent listing sites where they pull in Data Dumps. Sometimes these sites pull in new info every 12-24 hours, at times it could take 2-3 days.
There have been several times where I saw a house listed on Zillow as "One Day" and I go to see that house that same day only to find out 10-15 different real estate agent cards on the counter because the house was listed in real time 3-4 days before Zillow updated their site.
Other times, Zillow doesn't have a lot or any pictures of a new listing but if I go to another site, I see 25+ pictures of the house. I have noticed Zillow is slow to pull down pictures in their date nightly data dumps on new listings.
Good luck and use more then one of these sites at the same time. Don't put all your eggs in the Zillow basket.
Don't most people think this about their homes?
Quote:
really under valued my house last time I looked.. I laughed...
Don't most people think this about their homes?
Indeed, however this is true in my instance and I also do not think that distressed "sales" should be used in the value equation. I also offered that they were not representing my property accurately...
I thought their "zestimate" was based on comparable sales, local "square fit' estimates, etc.
I've never heard it based on real estate taxes which seems arbitrary.
also, houses come up on zillow a few days AFTER they come up on Redfin.
Redfin also has more information. for example, it has tax info, whereas zillow has tax info some of the time.
Today? You mean there was a time when this wasn't true?
Their information on schools was seriously incorrect because they did not differentiate between the city and the township of the same name.
What they had was seriously incorrect and totally misleading.
I do think however the price and listing history section can be helpful.
If you are talking about a subdivision where the houses were all built around the same time and are roughly the same size, the estimates are probably more accurate. If you are talking about an area where multiple builders build and sizes vary widely, the estimate becomes much less relevant because price per square foot varies significantly from one house to the next.
In our neighborhood we are more the latter - multiple builders with varying size lots. Houses are also largely just past the 10 year point, where people are starting to do significant upgrades inside. Zillow has no visibility into any of that, so it is not factored into their estimate, but would absolutely be factored into what you could get for the house.
If you want to know what you can accurately sell your house for, call 2 or 3 real estate agents with experience in your neighborhood, and have them work up estimates. That will be much more useful than Zillow.
I'm guessing that was just a rough estimate as opposed to an actual loan request? If your bank makes lending decisions based on Zillow it will likely not be around much longer.
That's likely why the estimate was way off. You can edit the description and they'll automatically update the estimate.
also, houses come up on zillow a few days AFTER they come up on Redfin.
Redfin also has more information. for example, it has tax info, whereas zillow has tax info some of the time.
redfin has the best and updated info. I searched there all the time during my home search
Correct - if a house in close proximity refinances a note which is far less than the actual value of the house, Zillow includes the refi dollars in the algorithm as the actual value of the house which effects all the homes within that proximity.