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Answers (5)
- Sharon Lewis, "Sharon Lewis"
- Contributions:3923
Its not really a starting point' for buyers... for my buyers, its a place to look to see homes for sale, however,even then, those homes may not be truly for sale. The owner or listing agent forgot to remove the listing.
It is a great place to get a general feel for what is out there and then hire a professional.
It is a great place to get a general feel for what is out there and then hire a professional.
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21466
Estimates are calculated 3 times a week, using any new "sold" data that comes in.
Adjustments for owner/agent revisions are DELAYED intentionally, to minimize gaming attempts. So the decline was only due to newer "sold" data in the vicinity, not the changes.
There are multiple variables used by the computer modeling, including:
1) house sqft
2) lot sqft
3) # bedrooms
4) # bathrooms
5) # stories
6) year built
7) tax assessed value (adjusted for local rules)
8) last sold price extrapolated from sold date
9) covered parking (if in the county records).
Any one of these can cause the machine to come up with a different trend direction than most of the neighbors. And if data is missing, the computer has to do other things to allow the model to calculate values, and putting in "zero" for any of the values would obviously create meaningless info. Zillow doesn't tell anyone how they adjust for missing data. Some people take the average for the area for that data-field to fill in. Others might calculate without the info, and then use a multiplier to adjust up for the missing item. Others still create separate models without that data field. Obviously, any of those methods will give different results, and calculating with less available data will always give results that can vary a lot more.
If your intent is to sell, filing a complaint will not help you any. Actually, the larger the discrepancy you can create between the list price and the estimate, the more people will look at the details for the property. What would help you the most is to use the estimate comment location and detail why the list price differs from the estimate.
Adjustments for owner/agent revisions are DELAYED intentionally, to minimize gaming attempts. So the decline was only due to newer "sold" data in the vicinity, not the changes.
There are multiple variables used by the computer modeling, including:
1) house sqft
2) lot sqft
3) # bedrooms
4) # bathrooms
5) # stories
6) year built
7) tax assessed value (adjusted for local rules)
8) last sold price extrapolated from sold date
9) covered parking (if in the county records).
Any one of these can cause the machine to come up with a different trend direction than most of the neighbors. And if data is missing, the computer has to do other things to allow the model to calculate values, and putting in "zero" for any of the values would obviously create meaningless info. Zillow doesn't tell anyone how they adjust for missing data. Some people take the average for the area for that data-field to fill in. Others might calculate without the info, and then use a multiplier to adjust up for the missing item. Others still create separate models without that data field. Obviously, any of those methods will give different results, and calculating with less available data will always give results that can vary a lot more.
If your intent is to sell, filing a complaint will not help you any. Actually, the larger the discrepancy you can create between the list price and the estimate, the more people will look at the details for the property. What would help you the most is to use the estimate comment location and detail why the list price differs from the estimate.
- sunnyview
- Contributions:25139
Hello. I have have a piece of advice for you so take it for what it is worth. I have seen valuation issues with neighborhoods like yours where the bed/bath count is not typically listed. When the owner claims it and inputs the bed/bath, their Zestimate seems to drop. This does not happen in areas where bed/bath are typically listed. I am not Zillow so I cannot explain why this would be.
Generally, claiming your house/editing facts does make the house value more accurate, but in this case it may not. If I were you and planing to sell, I would watch the Zestimate for another week or two if it doesn't look right or seems out of sync with your neighbors valuation charts then consider removing all the bed/bath information that was added then unclaim your house. Wait a few weeks to see if anything changes for the better. Personally, I think it is a Zillow glitch that affects only a few houses. That is not much consolation if that house is your though. I do not understand why it might happen, but the good news is that if claiming is causing trouble, you can edit and unclaim to go back to the previous facts. Just a thought.
Generally, claiming your house/editing facts does make the house value more accurate, but in this case it may not. If I were you and planing to sell, I would watch the Zestimate for another week or two if it doesn't look right or seems out of sync with your neighbors valuation charts then consider removing all the bed/bath information that was added then unclaim your house. Wait a few weeks to see if anything changes for the better. Personally, I think it is a Zillow glitch that affects only a few houses. That is not much consolation if that house is your though. I do not understand why it might happen, but the good news is that if claiming is causing trouble, you can edit and unclaim to go back to the previous facts. Just a thought.
- rohan323
- Contributions:5
I agree with you Alexis but it is often a starting point for a lot of buyers. Also, it is a self satisfaction thing. Thanks for flagging this.
- Alexis Pierson, "Alexis Pierson"
- Contributions:287
You might find this Zillow FAQ video helpful, in light to your concerns. I have also flagged your question for Zillow to review. However, I would like to remind you that Zestimates are just a starting point of an estimate, and it would be somewhat asinine to allow Zillow's Zestimate to impact a real estate sale or purchase in any way, as it is not a real estate agent's market analysis nor an appraisal.
Zillow Valuation
As per recommendation, I added my home after registering. Was told that it may take weeks to do the re-evaluation. However, within days again, my home price dropped further. I am not sure what is happening as all other homes in the sub division have retained their price. I am planning to file a complaint on this to BBB as well since this may adversely impact my plans to sell.
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