Zillow Advice: Home values - DANGEROUSLY INACCURATE COMPS & MISLEADING "Zestimate" !!!

Thank you dude. I agree.

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:01:00 GMT

Thank you dude. I agree.

STOP WORRYING ABOUT WHAT ...

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:50:00 GMT

STOP WORRYING ABOUT WHAT YOUR ZESTIMATE IS. IT IS NOT ACCURATE AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT. IGNORE IT.

Everyone know they are wrong so why worry about it. If someone is referencing Zestimates at all it proves as a good idiot filter that should tell you that they don't know what they are talking about. Get over it people.

So, now that we are entering ...

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:27:00 GMT

So, now that we are entering a deep recession/depression, how fast will zillow be dropping its estimated prices?

It seems to me those most upset about zestimates are those whose houses have not sold for prices that were, obviously, above market. But now the market is dropping. The credit crisis is going to destroy even responsible mortgage lending. So if you could not sell at your price before, forget about it now.

If you do not need to sell, take your house off the market. If you do not really want to sell for current prices, no need to torture yourself.

You know what is fasciniting? in all the discussion of the economic problems on CNBC, WSJ, NYtimes, etc, I have never heard anyone suggest that the problem is some website that estimates real estate prices.

Also, ejgallaher writes, ...

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:49:00 GMT

Also, ejgallaher writes, "Suppose Zillow provided the comps (as they do now), and allowed homeowners to create their 'layman's appraisal' of their own home? Of course, this could be abused by the homeowner selecting only the highest comps in the area. To counteract this possibility, anyone else could also browse the same comps, and if they wish, they could create (and publish) a 'dissenting opinion'. Everything would be completely transparent, because ALL the data that went into the estimate would be available for everyone to see...A system which encouraged, and enabled, a level of increasing knowledge and confidence in the real estate market would be fantastic."

In fact, Zillow does provide this capability via the My Estimate tool. Using this tool, anybody can revise facts about a home, add in home improvements, and pick good comparable homes for a pricing analysis. If you're the owner or agent, you can also publish this estimate for all to see (it's shown right next the Zestimate created by the automated processes). We wholeheartedly agree that local users may have much more intimate knowledge of a home and can, therefore, create a better estimate and we encourage our users to do so and to publish this information for the benefit of other users. As ejgallaher suggests, all the information associated with this custom valuation is shown to all users so that they can review and decide whether they agree or not with the valuation (and, if somebody doesn't agree, they can also create their own estimate of the home via the same tool). See an example of a published owner's estimate here:

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1308-Eagle-Dr-Windsor-CA-95492/51605513_zpid

To create your own estimate for a home, simply click on the Create link next to the My Estimate line that appears below the Zestimate (or the For Sale price if the home is on the market).

The Zestimate is just a starting point in a pricing conversation and we encourage our users to help the larger community by updating facts and creating their own valuations. We're not always right (but, in the spirit of transparency, we do always report how accurate we are in each area) and we hope our users will point out when we are not right and give other users the benefit of their local knowledge by creating and publishing their own value estimate.

If these features on our site don't fully address your needs or you think we could do a better job of surfacing their existence to users, please let us know your ideas.

Hi. This is Stan Humphries ...

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:49:00 GMT

Hi. This is Stan Humphries from Zillow. There are a few comments here decrying the inability to update facts about a home on Zillow. In fact, a homeowner or agent can do this on our site today. Simply claim the home and then you can modify all relevant facts about the house (click on the Edit link in the header of the Home Info section of any home details page). Moreover, we will then utilize these facts when the next Zestimate is created. See, for example, this home which is for sale.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/home-info/48744716_zpid

Here, the agent updated the square footage of the home and you can see the change in the Zestimate associated with these revised facts. Before the square footage was updated, the Zestimate was below $600K. The agent then updated the square footage, resulting in a current valuation of around $680K (and the home is listed for sale at $660K).

All you have to do to report ...

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:52:00 GMT

All you have to do to report to BBB is enter their site at: www.BBB.com

Search for Zillow.com and then enter your own report.

People don't be affraid to report this. Save your home, save your money, save your future.

when was the last time you, or anybody you know, checked the bbb before using an online database or any other web business? know what happens when you report zillow to the bbb? nothing. zillow ignores the complaint and after a while the bbb lets you know that zillow ignored them. they don't have any power to do anything and it's unlikely that zillow users ever go the the washington/oregon bbb to check the rating. a waste of time that won't save your home, your money, your future, or anything else.

I am not Zillow. What I want ...

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:23:00 GMT

I am not Zillow. What I want for people on this site is very different. Posters fighting with each other about Zestimates gets nowhere because nobody on this board except those who work for Zillow has any power to change them.

What I want is people to educate themselves and not accept anybody's raw number for their house. I want owners to tell banks to shove it if the appraisal is badly done or uses a cooked number to estimate value on the fly. I want owners not to trust anybody that stands to profit about what their house is worth-- not realtors, not banks, not appraisers and not Zillow. I want people to use the numbers available in the form of recently closed sales from Zillow to make up their own mind.

People keep suggesting that somehow I am a cheerleader for Zestimates. This is not true. I am thrilled that everyone can see comps listed online in one place so they don't have to trust others numbers. I do appreciate the larger zip code information in one place because that was basically reserved for realtors only before Zillow and getting updates info was like pulling teeth. I do not use Zestimates myself and I do not suggest others use them. What more can I say?

I would love honesty and accuracy in real estate across the board, but I feel that can only demand that from people that I pay realtor, banks, brokers etc. Zillow is low on my list because I don't pay anything for their information so I take my free comps and realize their constraints. My hope is that they improve over time, but they do what they do. In the meantime, I want people to use Zillow to challenge their tax assessments, to keep track of trends their neighborhood and to use the comps to set their own value so that nobody knows better than they do exactly what their house is worth. Knowledge is power.

I agree with you completely. ...

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:09:00 GMT

I agree with you completely. If Zillow doesn't update errors, the system will just get worse and worse. I want people to report their errors. From what I have seen, Zillow does reply to reports of errors in facts. You are right when you say that it takes a while to get them corrected and persistence in reporting the problem. I wish it didn't, but I don't run Zillow so I have no way to change that.

Although you understand the compounding problem that error of fact can cause, many people don't report them at all. They key ONLY their the zestimate (the least important number available) and not on the facts that they can change and that are important to any buyer. I have yet to see Zillow go in and change a Zestimate due to a complaint, but I have seen them correct basic property facts. I guess I tend to focus on things that people can change hoping that will make their basic property information more accurate and that would perhaps bring more accuracy to the numbers Zillow provides.

oh, and in the meran time, ...

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:35:00 GMT

oh, and in the meran time, the zestimate is still updated every other day to compound the errors and the whole thing continues to snowball. wooooohoooooo!!!!!! ain't this fun?

People that have a problem ...

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:34:00 GMT

People that have a problem with FACTS that are wrong about their home should ask Zillow to fix them in the home facts section. It seems to me that the wrong facts is likely to lead to the wrong numbers being used in the calculation of their both their Zillow range and estimate. Zestimate numbers that are radically off of comps or are rising or dropping at levels outside of their general zip code area should be reported here.

duh....that would work in the real world. but here in the zillow worls, not so much. inaccuracies are reported and ignored until they fall off the front page. if one is persistant enough, they will finally acknowledge the error, followed by lame excuses about 'third party data providers' and 'can't say when it will be fixed'. then it again slips off the front page to be forgotten again. months pass and nothing is done, but as long as the problem is now on page 37, the prooblem is 'solved'. nice business plan, eh?