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Why are your estimates SO much higher than the sale prices? Why are so many low selling houses miss

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Everything about your site is geared IT SEEMS to promote higher prices. You estimates are considerably over the sale prices. You round up on the prices. Your database misses all of the low selling houses that have sold. While when the market was going up this buy now or lose philosophy MIGHT have been appreciated right now this is not a rising market but a falling market and reasonable estimates from you would gain you a lot more loyal fans.

If I were a seller and I saw that my house estimate on Zillow was 80,000 above what I sold it for I wouldn't be thrilled with you either.

Maybe I'm missing the point on your site, but I thought the idea of this site was to help people determine what the comps were for a given house.

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July 09 - Bethesda

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Din Khaled, "Din Khaled"
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Din Khaled, "Din Khaled"

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Any website that is giving you free data is all about average #. Sometime this go in favor of some and in occasion this will make some one a little upset.

Appraising a property is not as simple as any one thinks. That's why it's Real Estate. Even 2 appraisers out of the same school and mentor will have 2 different price. And appraisers really don't believe or use average.

If you need help, call a Realtor and ask for help. I help a lot of people when I have time. Again for a true value, one has to walk the property. You can also hire your own appraiser for yourself. Cost about $400.00 for average size house.

Zestimate is not a value that is accepted by any BANK.

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July 21

Marney Kirk, "realtormarney"
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Marney Kirk, "realtormarney"

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Charlie, the statistical data used to determine value is not current, and does not follow trends very well.
After much discussion with some people at the site, I discovered that they base it on 1) What you bought it for (irrelevant in the real world) 2) When you bought it (also irrelevant), and 3) what your taxes are (huh!?).
I have written two articles on these inaccuracies. They are off very much in either direction in the Baltimore area -- a listing just went under contract for $2.5Million. Its' Zillow Zestimate? $972K. WHAT?! Though, statistically, that is only around 36% off -- think that seller would have been happy with that price?
Just know that in our area, it is not accurate. A real estate professional or appraiser are the two routes to find value. Just read the site's disclaimers!

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July 11

Damon93
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Damon93

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Charlie, I agree with you... I wish someone could answer your question as well.

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July 10

sunnyview
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True comps in a market like this are difficult to find even for appraisers. Many REO's have no kitchens, lack functional systems like hot water/heat/electrical service etc. Zillow drops the lowest and highest values to try to get a middle. In the market, the middle in many places is actually the REO lower lower middle. It is problem, but I see no way to solve it. Of course, I am not a techie or a math major so maybe that's my problem. Also short sales, private sales and REO's all show up on Zillow mathematical doorstep so to speak. How can they see the differences in these houses value when the assessors refuse to reassess even based on a much lower sales price without the owner fighting for a tax appeal. Assessment is a key piece of Zillow's number crunching. When assessors are pressed to keep values high, I would think that assessment and the sales price compete for airtime in Zillow's formula. I understand your point and and I see it as valid in some markets, but I don't see a way to fix it. Maybe you have some ideas?

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July 10

Charlie Gallie, "charliegallie"
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Charlie Gallie, "charliegallie"

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I don't understand what is going on on this site. The "answers" to my questions have no direct connection to what I wrote. And there seems no way to have back and forth. And no way to engage in a conversation with Zillow.

BUT I will persist.

Unless you consider the ENTIRE US housing market distressed why do you assume that the sales I was talking about are distressed? The valuations by Zillow in all of the markets that I follow are all way over the current market prices.

Part of the problem with the US and worldwide housing market is that even a distressed sale should be mathematically used in "some way" to figure out the competitive value of all housing. Even a home in Foreclosure and/or a short sale is based on someone's estimate of the bottomline value of a house. If there are a number of houses in the neighborhood being foreclosed and sold at firesale prices that is a form of estimates of the value of the homes. Whether a home is owned by a bank or a home owner or an realestate investment trust (remember them) those entities are trying to act in their own enlightened self interest when selling properties.

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July 10

Damon93
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Damon93

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most lenders and appraisers shy away from the distressed home sales.

Are you sure about this? WOW, do you really tell people that?

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July 09

James Ryan, "GreatRateFolks"
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James Ryan, "GreatRateFolks"

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Although it seems your ire is directed at Zillow, when trying to establish a "fair" value estimate for a home, most lenders and appraisers shy away from the distressed home sales. Obviously, there are many reasons for this, first and foremost, these are distressed sales, with typically many problems associated with purchasing them. I am sure you have heard the horror stories of appliances, electric wiring, fixtures, and even A/C units disappearing from foreclosed or short sale homes. So to get a "fair" market value, only homes sold without distressed are counted to calculate value. I have been a member of Zillow for quite awhile, and trust me, they showed my value crashing for quite a long period of time, and the value they stated for my home was a pretty fair valuation of what I thought the neighborhood was doing.
That being said, you cannot please all the people all the time, and valuations are many times more of an opinion than a cold fact. There can (and many times is) a value discrepancy of 1-8% for the same home appraised in the same week.
You hit the nail on the head with your last comment, fair comprable sales that are not distressed or foreclosure sales are the sales used. I find that most of my appraisals in the Metro area come in a bit HIGHER than the Zillow estimate...
I hope this helps answer your question a bit! Jim

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July 09

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Why are your estimates SO much higher than the sale prices? Why are so many low selling houses miss

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