Investor · Clarendon Hills, IL · Member since 2014 · 86 posts · 12 votes
As the title states my question I'm curious to hear people's opinions on this. Do successful investors use zillow as a resource. I'm a newbie looking at properties and would like your input.
Here's what I like about zillow. I can plug in the address of a home I'm interested in and can see everything I want to see. 1) Listing price history. How long has been sitting on the market. How many price drops? Any deals fallen through. 2) Sales history. 3) Assessment history. 4) A map where I can filter out sold only comps and/or rental comps very easily so I can get a better sense of the comps in that home's subdivision. Every town has different pricing pockets. And I can only imagine how important that is when figuring out comps to larger cities or even large towns (i.e. over 50k people).
I was somewhat aware that zillow didn't have all the comps. But it has enough for what I need. And when I go back to my appraisal estimates that I've given to my lenders before purchase, I think I've been within my typical 5k range on about 80 to 90% of guesstimates. So I would say that zillow is useful enough at least to someone like me.
I've tried redfin but find the interface less than intuitive and don't really believe it gives me the information I like to see when evaluating deals.
btw: I use realtor.com, hudhomestore, hubzu and homesearch for finding the homes. I only use zillow for evaluating whether the homes are deals or not....
Is the question specific to your local area? In Denver Zillow is a terrible tool because by the time properties hit Zillow they're likely under contract. My favorite 3rd party service is Redfin since they are as close to a real time MLS as you can find, but they aren't in all locations.
Zillow is a fine way to browse properties for sale, just take all their Zestimates with a grain of salt. Nothing beats visiting properties or working with a knowledgeable mentor/realtor and developing your skills in assessing whether something is a good deal for you or not.
I totally agree with Micki. Zillow is terrible for real time data in Denver. I only use Zillow for comps and rent rate, and also for posting ads for rental. Redfin is the best (if you don't have MLS access) for searching for properties. As soon as a property is on the market, Redfin will pull it and send me a notification.
@Maciej Michalak zillow can and does work ok in nc for finding houses everyone else is right by the time it hits zillow it is gone comps and zestimate is a joke. Refin, realtor.com even craigslist sometimes has good fsbo. But mls access is your best option. Good luck
Friends don't let friends use Z or T. Many MLSs have cut their feed to Z&T, etc. According to the Austin MLS, Z&T had something like only 70% of the listings, and of those, almost 50% of them had incorrect pricing info.
I find Zillow helpful, but with anything validate your info.
If you watch their values consistently and view past sold home data, you can see if the zestimate value trends higher or lower. From there you need to take into consideration your only rules for valuation to verify if it's accurate or not in your area.
Here's what I like about zillow. I can plug in the address of a home I'm interested in and can see everything I want to see. 1) Listing price history. How long has been sitting on the market. How many price drops? Any deals fallen through. 2) Sales history. 3) Assessment history. 4) A map where I can filter out sold only comps and/or rental comps very easily so I can get a better sense of the comps in that home's subdivision. Every town has different pricing pockets. And I can only imagine how important that is when figuring out comps to larger cities or even large towns (i.e. over 50k people).
I was somewhat aware that zillow didn't have all the comps. But it has enough for what I need. And when I go back to my appraisal estimates that I've given to my lenders before purchase, I think I've been within my typical 5k range on about 80 to 90% of guesstimates. So I would say that zillow is useful enough at least to someone like me.
I've tried redfin but find the interface less than intuitive and don't really believe it gives me the information I like to see when evaluating deals.
btw: I use realtor.com, hudhomestore, hubzu and homesearch for finding the homes. I only use zillow for evaluating whether the homes are deals or not....
Keep in mind that Zillow and Trulia are both AVM's (automated valuation models) that use the limited data that is available to them to project possible values onto properties. They can play a part in your analysis, but I would never base a purchasing decision on a "zestimate"..
What about their new "coming soon" feature. From what I remember reading, real estate agents who have a pro account or some such can list properties before putting them on the MLS. I don't know if anyone uses it, but a lot of realtors post "coming soon" signs around the Austin area. Zillow also has that "make me move" feature. That also means "pay way over market and I'll move," but market values move.
My last rental was rented off Zillow--I posted on HotPads, but it ended up on Zillow, too. Great tenants, their mom saw the listing.
Ask an agent to set up a "portal" for you off MLS. You can then get a daily report that fits the criteria of your choosing. I have found the alerts to be slightly faster than redfin, and redfin is already pretty fast for Los Angeles at least, and faster than both zillow and trulia.
I agree with what @Mike H. has said. I use Zillow for most of my research after I found a property elsewhere. I like that a lot of the links I need are right there. However, I don't use it for comps, nothing beats the MLS for that.
My properties frequently rent off of Zillow very quickly and I generate a lot of leads from there when I post them via Postlets.com
I agree with what @Mike H posted. I don't understand why many do not use Z the right way. It is not for getting a Zestimate, it is a resource for research. The Zestimate is an averaged out figure of both the wholesaled props and the retail props.
If you analyze the comps there you will see what wholesalers and rehabbers are buying at in the area as well as what the arv is based on retail sales. I use it in combination with mls comps---some comps on Z are not on mls.
It's a one stop shop for a quick overview. I do not use it for finding props. If you are tight on money you need to get out there and start networking. And some good deals can still be found on CL.
I see Zestimates as a finger in the wind to see which way the wind is blowing and that's about it.
In states where sales prices are public record AND where zillow is able to access them then it seems like an okay tool for getting rough sales comp data, at least for a first pass evaluation.
I suspect it's value doesn't just vary state-by-state but also by county and municipality within some states.
Try looking up the local assessor's office for your area and see if they have online records and compare those to zillow.
I only use Zillow as a backup to look at various numbers on a property. Previous sale prices, tax amounts, etc. Zillow numbers aren't always accurate but I occasionally check out the current Zillow value to just give me an idea of where it might be.
But the hardest part about Zillow and investing I've run into so far has been when I've seen what looks like to be a great property listed for sale, pics look great, numbers look good, etc....then I go see the property and it's in a bad neighborhood, the pics were obviously made to look better than the property really is, and nothing about it would be a good investment. It got quite irritating. So more of why I only use it as a secondary source vs primary.