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Answers (5)
- Cheryl Talbot Real Estate, "Virginia Beach Homes"
- Contributions:674
You may be right and here's why.....Keep in mind that these sites pull from MLS. MLS is the system that dicates what homes are selling for throughout the entire country. It's what appraisers use to determine value as they rarely use the cost approach in determining value. Market values come from MLS. It's the Holy Grail. Realtors are working hard to assist buyers in understanding that the market values come from what buyers are willing to pay and what the market supports. It's not what these sites post in values. Not to worry...the public is being made aware of this and we as an organization provide buyers with closed solds based on MLS. It's the most reliable data out there. Also check with your locl realtor to assist with values in your region. That should help you too!
This is how Zillow describe their methodology - well they pretend they have one to attract advertisers. Shame it is totally worthless.
How do we come up with the Zestimate?
We compute this figure by taking zillions of data points - much of this data is public - and entering them into a formula. This formula is built using what our statisticians call "a proprietary algorithm" - big words for "secret formula." Currently, we have data, Zestimates and Rent Zestimates on approximately 100 million homes on Zillow.
What's in this formula?
One eye of newt ... Actually, it's less wizardry than mathematics. When our statisticians developed the model to determine home values, they explored how homes in certain areas were similar (i.e., number of bedrooms and baths, and a myriad of other details) and then looked at the relationships between actual sale prices and those home details. These relationships form a pattern, and they used that pattern to develop a model to estimate a market value for a home.
How do we come up with the Zestimate?
We compute this figure by taking zillions of data points - much of this data is public - and entering them into a formula. This formula is built using what our statisticians call "a proprietary algorithm" - big words for "secret formula." Currently, we have data, Zestimates and Rent Zestimates on approximately 100 million homes on Zillow.
What's in this formula?
One eye of newt ... Actually, it's less wizardry than mathematics. When our statisticians developed the model to determine home values, they explored how homes in certain areas were similar (i.e., number of bedrooms and baths, and a myriad of other details) and then looked at the relationships between actual sale prices and those home details. These relationships form a pattern, and they used that pattern to develop a model to estimate a market value for a home.
- Greg Uchymiak, "gmlending"
- Contributions:52
The old, great way to determine the price of a house is to run CMA; Comparative Market Analysis, which can done via the local MLS; Multiple Listing Service.
- Justin Shea, "JustinShea"
- Contributions:1
Contact a local real estate agent or broker - they'd be more than happy to do a Comparative Market Analysis. If you're not comfortable with that, and would like a different source, call an appraisal company. The latter option will cost money and really won't differ much from a competent agent's opinion, but gives you another avenue.
- Tim Moore, "Kitty_Hawk_NC"
- Contributions:151
You must be talking about a zestimate which is just an estimate based on sales in the area and sq footage and bedrooms etc. Its an estimate at best a poor estimate so take it for what it is. A guess.
How do you determine the price of a house?
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