All Forum Posts by: Lori Greene
Lori Greene has started 61 posts and replied 431 times.
Post: Is Zillow Zestimate Accurate? What's your opinion?
- Specialist
- Huntsville, UT
- Posts 458
- Votes 249
Originally posted by @CJ M.:
@Lori Greene
My answer in English = No
My answer in Spanish = No
My answer in Pig Latin = O-nay
CJ M, You are funny! And I agree with you.
Post: Is Zillow Zestimate Accurate? What's your opinion?
- Specialist
- Huntsville, UT
- Posts 458
- Votes 249
Originally posted by @Robby Hogle:
As with most things in life I don’t think this is just a blanket “yes” or “no” answer.
It does a good job for cookie cutter homes (I.e., a lot of the same looking houses in a subdivision). Probably gets within 10% accuracy?
Terrible for any home that is unique, special situation or a C class neighborhood with mix of home quality (renovated vs run down).
I find Zillow very useful for pulling my own deal comps though. It is manual (i.e., use filters to look at recent deals within a given area) but great when I want a quick answer vs waiting for realtor to send me comps
Robby, I can see your logic and I sometimes use it myself that way, but I also know how to get comps from a Realtor super fast.
Post: Is Zillow Zestimate Accurate? What's your opinion?
- Specialist
- Huntsville, UT
- Posts 458
- Votes 249
Originally posted by @Dan Bryskin:
@Lori Greene, I think Zillow is good for gauging value, not good for pricing an individual property. Zillow estimates value based on sale data. In the areas with a lot of sales it will be more accurate in the areas with fewer sales it will be less accurate. So while trends, price per foot and some average price of some average house in the average condition can be accurate, Zillow won't know you house will sell at premium because of skylights, high ceilings or expansive flooring.
You are exactly right, they can't take condition into consideration, their info is outdated, they can't pull sold prices in non-disclosure states and they go off of asking prices, not just sold, so when someone reduces their asking price the neighbors house automatically sinks in value.
Post: Is Zillow Zestimate Accurate? What's your opinion?
- Specialist
- Huntsville, UT
- Posts 458
- Votes 249
Originally posted by @Matt M.:
@Lori Greene
Just like @Russell Brazil said, No. and I’ve never met a realtor that believes Zestimates. For example.. I have a property that’s worth about $105k, the zestimate is $160. My personal home zesttimate is about $65k low.
Yeah, I know realtors hate Zillow for house values. Some of them even hate Zillow for leads because they cost a fortune and most leads are no good. I'm annoyed that they and places like OpenDoor are snatching up so many properties from investors.
Post: Is Zillow Zestimate Accurate? What's your opinion?
- Specialist
- Huntsville, UT
- Posts 458
- Votes 249
Originally posted by @Steven Warner:
Lori:
Zillow is just another tool to use when you formulating your valuation. In some areas it is ok but in others they suck. I use at least 4-5 different AVMs to even begin to look at "value".
I also look at the assessor's cite as well. In some areas they do a real good job (i.e. Salt Lake, & OKC assessor site are good.).
Even then I might have a BPO done - it all depends.
If you are relying on one AVM and not looking at others- you are tying your hands behind your back at a boxing match!
Just my thoughts..
Steve
Yeah, I live near SLC and the assessor's value for my house was pretty close but in some areas they are way off too. There's nothing better than an in-depth CMA from a realtor.
Post: Is Zillow Zestimate Accurate? What's your opinion?
- Specialist
- Huntsville, UT
- Posts 458
- Votes 249
Originally posted by @Heath M.:
I use it as a data point, but not the gospel. I've seen 2 of the same floor plans in a subdivision be 20k off.
I know what you mean. I did a test on my own house using Zillow and a bunch of others and there was a $200k range between them. Most of the were $100k or more over. I usually use a Realtor to get comps but I can see the point in just looking at all of the AVM's when trying to narrow down the deals I want to get comps on.
Post: Is Zillow Zestimate Accurate? What's your opinion?
- Specialist
- Huntsville, UT
- Posts 458
- Votes 249
Originally posted by @Russell Brazil:
No
I love your answer.
Post: Has anyone had much success flipping forclosures?
- Specialist
- Huntsville, UT
- Posts 458
- Votes 249
Keep your eye out for FSBO's who are trying to hurry and sell before they get foreclosed on. Pre-foreclosures can be great. And it comes down to equity because what they owe is what you can pick it up for. We just flipped one where the owner was advertising on a local ads site. We picked it up for what she owed which was $142k and we offered to help her move and get into a new place. We put about $50k into it and sold it for $265k!
Post: Rentometer for Commercial Properties?
- Specialist
- Huntsville, UT
- Posts 458
- Votes 249
@Salvatore Lentini I agree with Salvatore about talking to local commercial brokers. And also, loopnet.com is a Commercial RE listing site. Those listings often have rents listed in them. Search up all of the local commercial listings to see if any are similar in size, location, condition or use to yours. If they don't list the rents, call on them and ask. Who knows, maybe you'll find another great commercial property in process as well. Good luck!
Post: Is Zillow Zestimate Accurate? What's your opinion?
- Specialist
- Huntsville, UT
- Posts 458
- Votes 249
I have my own opinions about Zillow's accuracy for valuing property. But I want to know yours. It's one of the most visited sites online and so many people trust their values because it's strong brand online.
If you use Zillow in your investing, how do you use it? What do you, like or dislike about it? I also want you know your opinion about how they are affecting investors now that they are buying houses or your opinion on how they are affecting Realtors.