Real Estate Investor · New York, NY · Member since 2009 · 7 posts · 1 vote
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 Is it possible that the higher prices are outdated because they are not recent transactions?
Residential Real Estate Broker · Payson, AZ · Member since 2009 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes
17y
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.
Rental Property Investor · Mercer Island, WA · Member since 2008 · 22k+ posts · 14k+ votes
17y
Zillow is just not accurate. In a case like this, the sales might have been REOs or other distressed sales. But if zillow's value is accurate it's almost just luck.
Residential Real Estate Broker · Payson, AZ · Member since 2009 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes
17y
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.
Investor · Mableton, GA · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 465 votes
17y
ZIllow currently Zestimates my personal residence value at $1,282.000. It's probably about $450,000 over the FMV. This is a lot! Out of 7 houses sold in the close proximity listed by Zillow, only one shown as sold this year (February) all the rest were sold between 2006-2008. These are bad comps.
Investor · Rancho Cucamonga, CA · Member since 2008 · 1k+ posts · 684 votes
17y
Zillow used to have a great feature Recently Sold and you could sort by "Sold Date". For some stupid reason they disabled sorting and now it shows everything...
They seem to use no logic 2-1's, 2008 builds compared to 1920's... It could be useful if they had some sorting.
NEVER EVER go by the zestimate... NEVER (unless you're buying one of my properties)
Developer · Santa Clarita, CA · Member since 2008 · 15k+ posts · 10k+ votes
17y
I use zillow for only three reasons:
1. I am feeling down and so I look up the zestimate of my own home which is double what it is actually worth, ahhh, I feel better.
2. I need a good laugh.
and 3. Finding the "sold" comps near a subject property. It is easy to navigate and locate the bed/bath and square footage of these homes.
Real Estate Investor · Leesburg, FL · Member since 2009 · 22 posts · 2 votes
17y
Around my neck of the woods everybody
subtracts about 20 % from zillow estimates. I think the site is really not in
keeping with good R.E.. Also did you know that you cannot delete anything on zillow, try it , good luck
General Contractor · Meridian, ID · Member since 2009 · 52 posts · 3 votes
17y
Originally posted by motiv8td:
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.
Hi motiv8td, new guy here thank you for your advice! sorry but newbie question, how do I do a sold price per square foot do you have a spread sheet for this or is there a formula that you use.
Thomas
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.
General Contractor · Meridian, ID · Member since 2009 · 52 posts · 3 votes
17y
sorry about that last post,as I was working on it and we had a power outage.
Hi motiv8td, new guy here thank you for your advice! sorry but newbie question, how do I do a sold price per square foot do you have a spread sheet for this or is there a formula that you use.
Thomas
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.
Residential Real Estate Broker · Payson, AZ · Member since 2009 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes
17y
Originally posted by Thomas Loughran:
sorry about that last post,as I was working on it and we had a power outage.
Hi motiv8td, new guy here thank you for your advice! sorry but newbie question, how do I do a sold price per square foot do you have a spread sheet for this or is there a formula that you use.
Thomas
no worries on the newb questions, thats why BP exist is so that we all can communicate.
generally you can find the $ per sq ft on comps or other 'valuation' sites. If you can't just simply divide the 'sold' price by the # of square feet and you'll have your answer.
What I like to do is get an average of averages meaning getting 3, 4 or 5 of the most recent 'sold' comps and adding them up and dividing by the number of houses that you added.
You can and should do this for the low end of comps and high end of comps. Obviously we try to buy at a discount so I'll use the low comps when buying and use the high comps when selling. Does that make sense.
Real Estate Investor · Dearborn, MI · Member since 2009 · 56 posts · 40 votes
17y
I feel the same way about zillow, way over priced on almost everything. I use recently sold then price per square as well. What other comp sites like zillow are out there. I know cyberhomes just sucks period way undervalued and trulia is ok for market trends
Real Estate Investor · Springfield, MA · Member since 2009 · 142 posts · 103 votes
17y
I find zillow to actually be somewhat accurate for my area. I think maybe the markets that had huge run-ups and big down turns it is usually way off. And it definetly doesn't take into consideration the condition of the house.
I like to use it as a quick gauge of value. If I am talking to a seller on the phone, or trying to quickly gauge the ARV of an REO, I'll plug it into Zillow. If the asking price is alot lower than what zillow is saying I know it's worth looking into more.... at this point I'll do a more detailed CMA using the MLS.
Investor · Mableton, GA · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 465 votes
17y
Originally posted by Josh Green:
Originally posted by Eddie Ziv:
ZIllow currently Zestimates my personal residence value at $1,282.000. .
wow eddie, leprechaun 3 must have paid u well ;)
I Bought the house (With my late wife) in 1987 for $164,000. I spent about another $100K expending it back in 1991 from 1,300 sq/ft to 2,500 sq/ft. Converted the garage into a guest unit which I rent out. I then built another garage and anther guest unit on top of it which I rents as well.
Involved In Real Estate · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2008 · 89 posts · 15 votes
17y
Originally posted by Jim Barron:
Around my neck of the woods everybody
subtracts about 20 % from zillow estimates. I think the site is really not in
keeping with good R.E.. Also did you know that you cannot delete anything on zillow, try it , good luck
I've heard from many investors that subtracting the 20% Jim mentioned is a way to work zillow's zestimate. Its definitely not accurate... Some one also mentioned that it has something to do with the algorithm's that the site uses not being setup to keep up with the current market. But thats beyond my scope of knowledge... Another thing you can do is cross reference between zillow, trulia, cyberhomes, and propertyshark...
Developer · Santa Clarita, CA · Member since 2008 · 15k+ posts · 10k+ votes
17y
Why go through all that work Edward! As far as data is concerned, you can only get out what is put in, therefore, crap in, crap out. If Zillow figures are so far off (which they are) you can't use the data and expect to get something good out of enetering the crap.
Skip the hassle and go direct to the MLS for your comps through an agent or title company. Zestimates are worse than uneducated guesses! :lol:
Real Estate Investor · Tampa, FL · Member since 2008 · 456 posts · 42 votes
17y
I use B of A and Trulia but also use Zillow for recently/nearby sold, sq, ft., and other info that the site is good for but as everyone else stated, their "Zestimate" is not one of them.