Inaccurate "zestimates" negatively impacting sales

Profile picture for BradfordJames
My property is on the market.  According to official appraisals, we have it undervalued.  Zillow is quoting a ridiculously lower estimate even than this!  Despite it's own comps being correctly equitable with our asking price.  This is negatively impacting our attempted sale and Zillow must cease and desist from putting out this harmful and inaccurate information.
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September 07 2010 - Los Angeles

Replies (13)

Hello,

Trust me. I feel your pain. I deal with this everyday when I go on listing appointments and home owners say their home is worth a certain value based on a zestimate.


What I do with all these home owners is that I explain Zestimates are not accurate figures. In LA they are off by plus or minus 10 % points. Until Zillow creates robots that can enter inside homes, look at the condition of your home, and so forth, it is inevitable that home prices will be off. Zillow states this in their disclaimer. Regardless of the Zestimate, selling your home should not be negatively impacted by it since homes are bought and sold according to the market.

People hunting for homes working with professionals have a good idea of what homes are worth regardless of zestimates. I always like to say the key selling a home is not being a salesman. The key is to market it effectively to every single homebuying demographic out there. The buyer will come. Good luck!
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September 07 2010
Profile picture for SoCal Appraiser
Zillows values have no effect on your homes REAL value, sorry. Zestimates are only a guess of the value. Actually from my experience, Zillow is usually HIGH in this market...whats your address ?
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September 07 2010
Profile picture for wehelpubuy
Make sure your home description is accurate.  If it doesn't reflect the true size, upgrades and condition of your home, you need to go into the system and make changes.  It's a matter of "Claiming" your home and editing the details.  That will cause the system to revalue your home and hopefully raise the value.
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September 07 2010
Profile picture for sgmmgs

The best way to get an estimate of value is to contact a local real estate agent, and they will be happy to provide you with that information.

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September 07 2010
Profile picture for askmaryann
Online home estimate websites assign home values without knowing the features, upgrades of a home or the neighborhood in which it is located. If a potential buyer comes to you with one of these online estimates it's up to your agent(if represented) their agent or you (FSBO) to educate them and provide local housing data, recent sales of comparables in your area. Good luck on your sale.
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September 07 2010
Profile picture for wetdawgs
A Zestimate is an estimate using the bare bone facts about a house.  It doesn't take into account upgrades or down grades, fantastic views, freeway in the back yard, water front property and many other things that add or detract from value to a house.   It is a starting point for comparison, not a final point.

Many others have tried the "cease and assist" strutting, but Zillow has successfully defended their model through the legal system (and it is clear from their disclaimers throughout the site).

Thank goodness the Zillow house inspection dogs aren't walking through our homes weekly.

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September 07 2010
Hello, Kathleen from Zillow here -

Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns about the Zestimate for your home.  I wanted to provide you with some additional information to help you understand Zestimates in general and to help make sure the Zestimate for your home is as accurate as possible.

As we explain in detail here What is a Zestimate, Zestimates are created by applying a proprietary algorithm to public data and are intended only to provide a starting point in figuring out the value of a home.  Zestimates are not intended to take the place of Competitve Market Analyses from real estate agents or appraisals from professional appraisers.

Many factors can impact the accuracy of a Zestimate including the amount of public data that is available regarding a specific home or geographic area.  If you are interested in more information about the accuracy of Zestimate data for your city, please take a look here: Data Coverage Zestimate Accuracy.

Most importantly, to help make sure your Zestimate is as accurate as possible, you can use the following tools to provide additional information about your home:

* Claim your home so that you can edit the home facts and post photos.  Just click on the button that says "edit home facts" on your home's details page.  For more information about claiming your home, please see Editing Home Facts.

*Use the Zillow My Estimate funciton to post your own estimate of the value of your home.  For more details, see Create Your Own Estimate.

I hope that you find this information useful.  If you have other questions, please just let me know.
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September 07 2010
Profile picture for SoCal_Engr
Zillow should not be impacting the sale of your home, either negatively or positively. Any competent RE agent should be able to effectively defend their listing or offer price based on their comps and market analysis.

As many have already said, Zillow is just an estimate. At that, it's only one of many that can be obtained from the Internet. Anyone attempting to use a Zestimate as the basis for an offer should be easily countered. If your REA can't, get someone better.
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September 07 2010
Profile picture for Mills Realty
As an active Realtor in your community I can tell you firsthand that the Zestimate has no bearing on the sale of your property.  Agents do not use it as a value tool and in the unlikely event that a buyer is trying to use it against you then you simply need to provide the buyer with comparable that support your price. 

Simon Mills
Mills Realty
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September 08 2010
Profile picture for SoCal Appraiser
If you dont like it dont use it.
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October 27 2010
Profile picture for REO Investments

zillow takes sq. ft of home, age of home, lot size, zip code and recent sales and creates it value

however these recent sales include distress sales, trustee sales, normal sales and non-arms length transactions.  in other words it like going to the beach and saying everyone looks the same.

the average home price in los angeles co is 335K, the zillow estimate is a good starting point but home values can range from +/- 30% from that estimate

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January 08 2011
Profile picture for alohatrudy
I, too am curious about the "zestimates".  I am currently both a buyer and a seller.  I had my home appraised by a professional appraiser and then listed it below the appraised value.  Still, Zillow has a "zestimate" that is below our asking price.  

I recently made an offer on a house below the asking price but above the "zestimate" price.  The owner became angry about our mention of the "zestimate" value, and the next day that figure was removed from the web site.  I am wondering how a property owner can have a Zillow estimated value removed? 
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January 20 2011
Profile picture for Tajada Weldon
I kow it is upsetting to know that people are using Zestimates to tell you that your home is worth less. However the other post-ers are correct. Zestimate does not see the interior of your home, therefore cannot give a completely accurate view of its value. THe Market Analysis in your area will have a value which is closer to the correct price for listings and Sells.
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April 27 2011
 
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