how accurate is zillow?

[Philip Lilavois]

One would have to be skeptical when you have 3 or four houses in a neighborhood currently for sale or recently sold for 10-20k and the surrounding houses are all over 100k. Is it possible that the higher prices are outdated because they are not recent transactions?

[Nick J.]

I remember when the guy from Zillow came on her trying to defend the site. It doesn't matter how you cut it, Zillow is NOT a great or even a good way to estimate values.

I wouldn't have a problem if someone said they only checked Zillow for the sold's as long as they were recent. The problem with comps whether you use Zillow or any other services is that you can manipulate the comps by choosing some but not all or not choosing certain ones.

My favorite way still is taking only 'solds' for a short period of time(like 3 months tops) and instead of trying to figure or compare rooms and baths blah blah blah, figure out what the 'solds' price per square foot is and that will give you a more accurate and real number as to the value to your house.

I hope that helps