My friend Neal Haddad, PR/Marketing guru, sent me an email about this article on Zillow.com.
It’s interesting to see all the excitement about Zillow.
Zillow has some very nice maps where you can find comps. Unfortunately, their comps are a bit old, I’m seeing 3 to 4 months after closing.
My main internet venture Home Sale News publishes data that is only about 3 weeks after closing.
Be careful: Zillow’s value estimates (”Zestimates”) are dangerous is you don’t understand their accuracy.
For Phoenix Arizona, 28% of their “Zestimates” are off by 10% or MORE. Zillow’s esimates are only ballpark estimates.
If your home is worth $400,000, there’s a 28% chance Zillow.com will tell you it’s worth more than $440,000 or less than $360,000.
How would you like to be off by 10% or MORE in your pricing? That’s a huge problem either way.
So, Zillow is good for ballpark estimates but not for setting the list price of your home.
By the way, my experience has been that long term subscribers to Arizona Home Sale News have a very accurate idea of their home’s value.
Want a quicker way to get your home’s value? If you are planning to sell soon, call me to arrange a listing presentation.
When I make a presentation to you on listing your home, I’ll include a comprehensive analysis of your home’s market value.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Michael // Feb 14, 2007 at 2:37 pm
I think one main appeal of Zillow is that it doesn’t require any personal information. You don’t have to sign up for anything.
2 Irv Wilson // Feb 16, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Don’t know much about Zillow other than I’ve visited it once or twice. I think you’re very likely right about their accuracy but I find it dismaying that we would discount comps because they’re “3 or 4 months old”. Viewing 3 month old price data as “out of date” is a byproduct of the recent price boom. I won’t believe the market is on firm ground until people feel like comps are reasonably current for a longer period than that. Too many folks still think, when looking at a closed sale, “Yes, but that was TWO MONTHS AGO!!”
3 John L. Wake - Realtor // Feb 16, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Irv,
True in a stable market it shouldn’t matter much.
As you say, we were trained by the boom in 2005 when information 3 or 4 months old would underestimate the value by $30,000 or more for the average home.
Having information 2 to 3 months before other folks is a big advantage for my clients.
For example, if I saw prices were strengthening or weakening before most folks, boy, that would be an advantage.
Knowledge is power.
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