My home's zestimate is way off. Can I contact anyone to have them review it?

Profile picture for user29294
My house is showing a zestimate of 96,000. This is miles away from reality, My home was bought for around 97,000 in 2002 and had a nearly $100,000 remodel in 2007 before I purchased the home.  I am assuming this is why the zestimate is off.  

I know many people come to this site to get a rough idea of what properties are worth and to look at homes for sale.  My wife and I are considering selling in the next year to move back closer to her family and I would love to use Zillow to help sell my home.  I think its a fantastic site and for the most part, the zestimates are pretty accurate. But I am not going to use zillow at all if it is telling potential buyers that the home is worth $75,000 less than fair market value.   their bird's eye view even points to a home that is not mine.... it's 5 houses down

 Is there a way to contact someone to have my property reviewed?  I recently updated a few flaws in the home facts, but I don't think it will impact my zestimate as largely as it should.
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February 17 - Economy
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Answers (10)

Profile picture for SoCal Appraiser
Dont get your Zestimate and your homes value confused. It matters little what your Zestimate is, all that matters is what your value is - and they can be very different. Youll really only know what your home is worth if and when you sell it, until then its not worth worrying about. A low Zestimate wont hurt your value. The tail does not wag the dog...
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February 21

Not to worry.....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.

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February 19
Profile picture for CindyWhitlock
How do you get your home removed from the Zillow site?  We are planning to put our home on the market, and the Zillow estimate is so low that it is laughable.  Since Zillow present's themselves as experts, there are many that will be turned off by such a low estimate. 
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February 19
Profile picture for nwhome.us
One of the best places to start, for a new user of this platform, is on the Zillow FAQs tab, specifically on the Most Popular Zillow Questions.  Follow that up by participating on the boards and you will find ways to deal with buyer's objections (or use of Zestimates) when you try to sell your property. RE brokers anticipate objections to every property that they list and have answers to every one of them.
Example:
Objection -Those jets are really noisy when they fly over head.
Counter- "Did you know that this home qualifies for the county's noise abatement program?"

That's a pretty reasonable counter. This buyer spends all day on their computer, doesn't like to spend time outside, the place doesn't have a yard or any maintenance and it is really cheap.  The new windows and sound insulation are all organized and subsidized by the county.

All you need to counter an objection about a Zestimate is an understanding of how it is arrived at, the true condition of your property, how the market is trending in your area, what the condition of the homes were that have sold recently, how they compared to your property, what the strength of the buyer is who makes an offer on your property, how motivated the buyer is, how motivated you are to sell, the effect of the debt in Greece, Italy and Spain and how the buyer likes the paint color you chose to make the siding on your home.

If the buyer is stuck on the Zestimate, it isn't Zillow's problem, it's the buyer's.  Incidentally, if you look at homes that are listed the Zestimate's prominence (position) is lowered considerably and there is an opportunity for the seller to describe why the Zestimate is outside of reality.  they have provided a prominent spot for you to counter the objection prior to it being raised.
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February 19
Profile picture for CindyWhitlock
Zestimate is nearly always low with it's flawed estimates.  I believe this site is partially responsible for driving real estate prices downward.  You are right, this sight needs more regulation, more people need to speak up.  The Zillow site is posting incorrect information and that should be illegal.  They are currently pulling comps on our home that are for 2 acre unimproved lots, and homes in subdivisions.  We have a beautiful home, shop, barns, 2 story garage (all excellent shape and newer) with 24 acres.  I am appalled that they can get away with this irresponsible reporting, then call themselves experts.
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February 18
Profile picture for Cindy Quinton
You can certainly flag your property and let Zillow know you think there is an issue. However, to my knowledge they won't manually adjust a zestimate and will only remove it if it falls outside a tolerance range.I honestly believe the folks actually out buying houses are smart enought to know that a computer generated valuation using ONLY public information can't be accurate most of the time.
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February 17
Profile picture for user29294
I was just curious if there was a way to contact anyone.  I didn't see a link anywhere.   I agree with your comments for the most part.

I formerly had my real estate license before moving out of state and have experience in real estate sales.  I know what reality is and I think you'd have to be a fool to think the "zestimate" is right on the money most of the time. But sadly we live in a world filled with fools, I've encountered far too many to deny that fact.

I would just like to use every avenue possible including zillow when it comes time to sell my home.  I will not advertise on here if they are directly advertising my property value as more than $70,000 less than it has been appraised for recently.

So to me, I get your point saying it doesn't matter, and yes it does not affect my real home value and people with a brain should be able to see past it. But, I don't want to deter all those people without brains. lol  That's a very big portion of the population!  So to me the zestimate does at least have some importance....a lot of people use this site
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February 17
" Zillow is a big media real estate company, their thinking must be greater than a mom and pop's restaurant's thinking."

The reality is that a mom and pop's restaurant thinking is far more intelligent than Zillows flawed zestimate algorithm. At least mom & pop think logically with a base level of intelligence.
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February 17
Zillow is a big media real estate company, their thinking must be greater than a mom and pop's restaurant's thinking.
Zillow uses the purchase price and the tax assessment as parts of many facts to calculate home value, it doesn't matter if your property's Zestimate is too low or too high, since the buyers compare your house to the others, those are currently on the market, they do not just see your house and the Zestimate then make an offer, I think that soon enough your house get an offer if you list your house on the market at the right price. Also you just edit the home fact, the update may affect on your property's Zestimate in a fews weeks to a fews months (it takes time).
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February 17
@user29294

the bad news is that Zillow doesn't care if your zestimate is right or wrong. In fact the more wrong it is the better as it creates controversy that will keep your returning to their website so increasing the number of unique users each month that drive display Ad revenue. The time has come for sites like zillow to be subject to some form of regulation to ensure fairness to homeowners. 
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February 17
 

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