sunnyview's Discussions

I agree completely with you tjw2000. It seems that there was a change in how Zillow listed the square footage about 60-90 days ago or so. For example, a house that my son's friend owns Zillow ID # 48409573 was originallly listed with the correct square footage of around 2000 sf or so after their purchase last year. Now Zillow is listing the same house as having 2940 Sf with a finished basement. I have been in the house personally . The house is not 2940 sf and does not have a finished basement period. However, it does have a short ceilinged unfinished basement of about 900-1000 sf. Also, when it was listed for sale by the realtor it was listed with 2000 sf not almost 3000 sf. Second, another house Zillow ID 48409319 was listed for sale 90 days ago with 1093sf by the realtor. It is a very modest 2/ 1 bungalo with no additions of any kind since 1910. Now, Zillow has it listed with 2186 sf and a finished basement. When a went to the open house at this property, I was told that it had no basement at all only a crawl space.After looking at several houses in my neck of the woods that I have personally seen on the inside, it seems that Zillow is now including unfinished or basement square footage in the total as real finished sq footage. I do not know why this change has occurred with properties here in Eugene, Oregon, but is makes the information involving square feet or averages much less accurate. I hope that Zillow will consider this in how they list square footage in the future since the Zillow estimates rely on how much per square people are willing to pay for any given neighborhood. I hope that Zillow takes a look at their new system because the old one was far more accurate.

Dear asteaks,There are many big bad things that Zillow does not take into account either like bad neighbors, noisy dogs, traffic, party houses etc. Added value for good views, street appeal, fancier neighbors, pretty landscaping etc. is equally hard to quantify. A property is worth only what the market will bear at any given time. Recent sales are included in Zillow, not just tax records, and usually those will suggest the true value of your property more accurately. Sometimes it can be hard to find a really good comp or know what your extra features are really worth. Many of my neighbors have paid more than their property was worth by the book, but they paid for a specific school or specialty landscaping. They will not be able to sell for what they paid anytime soon, yet their realtors felt that they were making a wise investment at the time.Realtor are professional salespeople at best. They are not trained as appraisers and often have a vested interest in selling either higher or lower than the market depending on the rest of their available listing pool. Smart, honest realtors will not mislead a client as to value on purpose, but many realtors are not smart or honest. For that reason, I would never have a realtor formally appraise a property or give me anything more than an informal opinion.

Zillow does not provide a true appraisal. The best $300 that you can spend in a divorce is hiring an independant appraiser. Often, your lawyer if you have one can recommend someone that will be good. Also, keep track of house listing/sales (collect flyers, visit open houses etc.) in your neighborhood from now until he make his buyout offer. That way is things don't go well and end up in court you will have real information and will be able to intelligently lead your appraiser to much better and more accurate comparable sales for your home.

No, I have seen it done and it just looks like a pantry or something. Sort of out of sight out of mind. The only suggestion I might make is to use good quality closet doors like louvered wood or wood raised panel doors. They paintable/stainable any color to match cabinets or blend with walls, they are easier to clean than metal, they sound proof the laundry area better and look better too. They would run about $40-50 for a 5 foot closet more than the metal ones, but they are worth it.

Dear Lawman6,Zillow information is a general guideline only. Your best indicator of what your house is really worth is what a willing buyer will pay at any given time. That value fluxuates by the day based on the overall market and even the time of year. Second to that, an appraisal from a qualified non interested appraiser using at least three or more good quality comparable sales usually gives a fair valuation. An appraisal is only a guideline though and can be either high or low. Your house may sell over it's appraised value in a hot selling area or even to a hot interested buyer. Zillow does not decide what your house is worth only you and the person you sell to really do that. So don't worry about your Zestimate the market will decide when you sell whether it is fair or not.

Dear BayWind,If you are an educated investor, you don't need anything more than your own knowledge of the neighborhood you interested in buying into and Zillow's comparable sales list. You will obviously not be paying the Zestimate in most cases and may not even hit Zillow's low range estimate if you get a really good deal. Zillow already gives you tons of good investor info. What else do you want to see specifically?

I would say that So Cal is heading for a significant price adjustment overall, but that close in horse property is definately a good long term bet as long as it has reasonable water cost and broad based employment reasonably close by. My guess is that with interest rates where they are now that it would be a good deal in the mid/up 500's. The chart you posted shows an unrealistic "value" bubble in about 2005. The older part of the chart shows moderate price growth heading up at a more normal rate. If you can buy near the normal appreciating rate before the bubble on the chart 2005-2006, you would most likely be no more than 10% off the ultimate bottom price (saving a 20's style depression). I don't think that's too bad if you have found a property that fits you that you can comfortably financially support for at least the next 10 years.If you really want it, I would go ahead and make a lower offer at this point because they sound like they are cash poor and horse property is more expensive to carry then a normal house. You may be surprised. Offer them 569 or 579 which gives them money to carry their other house. If they had significant buyer interest on the property, they would not be aggressively dropping the price.By the way, do you know what the property would rent for if you purchased it and then had to leave it, but could not immediately sell?

I think that as a nation we are feel good impulse buyers. Almost nobody saves, almost everybody lives on credit and almost everybody buys things that they don't truly need on credit. I am not a politico, but the manipulations of the markets-energy, finance, housing, etc. has been so blatently handled, I am not sure why people are not personally outraged. I see it affecting people day to day, in what they pay for gas, food, housing. The American Dream has changed from owning your own piece of the american pie to refinancing a bigger mortgage every couple of years to pay down debt. When we sold our past two houses, both our buyers bought with little or no down. One even financed his closing costs on a third mortgage. He actually borrowed 110% loan to value. What a great American feeding the hungry economy that way. There will be a serious economic reset in this country and a lot of people living a financed lifestyle will really be hurting. The unfortunate part is that to be able to retire in this country, most people have the bulk of their retirement savings in the stock market. When they see their housing "value" and their retirement nest egg both drop off the map, who will pay for their care in retirement? Maybe itsokay will rent them a room in his tenament.

I would laminate one color flyer at Kinkos (about $1) and attach it to the front of the flyer box or post it on a stake in the front yard so that when people stop they can see the information. Make it color if possible with nice photos and basic info with text large enough to read from a car window (14-16 point text) You might also say that there is additional information packets available in a basket near the front door. On those you can include more information like taxes, specific lot size or whatever. Sorry you are having this problem at all, but just think with a little different marketing strategy you won't have to put them out one at a time and you will be moved to a new place.

I don't know about that walty804. I'm sure they thought they would get close to their first list price of $775k, but you know that the buyer decides on what it's worth. It may or may not be worth what they are pricing it at today. I say throw them an fair offer that you can afford and if they don't go for it then it's the wrong house anyway. Don't overextend yourself or get into a bad situation or you may be in the same situation that the current sellers are in. That's why you need to know what it might rent for, just in case the worst happens.P.S. I love SoCA, and the more horses the better.