Zillow has our house valued about $65K more than what I think we'll end up selling for. I wish Zillow was the accurate one!

Have you made any attempt to determine why the $65K difference exists? Is the difference all houses in the immediate vicinity - or just your home?

SaltiDawg - Zillow is mostly wrong for our entire neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods. I think specifically in our case, we are one of the largest homes in the neighborhood. Typically in our area, large square foot homes sell for less $/sq. foot. A 1500 sq. foot home would sell for something like $250/sq. foot but a 3500 sq. foot home will sell for $210/sq. foot. Most of the 'comps' that Zillow uses are based on much smaller homes so I think it's using a higher $/sq. ft calculation. The last house that sold close to our size was 18 months ago. At least that's my theory.

My neighborhood is a mix of older (1940's) unrenovated homes, older renovated homes or homes that have been torn down and are now new construction. Houses are all over the place. Zillow just can't comprehend it!

Whether Zillow is right or wrong they certainly are attempting to be right. I suspect the marketing aspect has less value to them than accuracy. We actually have a team of math guys who are working to improve the algorithm for the prize money.

There business model isn't to be a website that you browse homes on, they want to break into the automated real estate business and are working to get there. It behooves them to get the numbers as close as possible. In the neighborhood where my rental properties are within $1,000 of correct on Zillow and my home is off by $100,000.

Zillow works very well when your property is surrounded by a lot of similar properties in an active market with listing and sold data available. However, the algorithm breaks down quite a bit when properties are outliers or available information is limited.

The zestimate on our home is much lower than what a bank appraises it at. I'm not sure why, as there have been other homes sold in my neighborhood that are similar in age and square footage, but sold for much higher prices. My neighbors' houses have higher zestimates, some significantly higher, although their homes are similar to mine.

We have a ranch style home with a finished basement. Zillow has our house listed as a 3 BR, 2.5 BA home, but it is actually a 4 BR, 3 BA as there is a legal bedroom and bathroom in the basement. We were told below grade bedrooms didn't count in an estimate, even if there is an egress window for outside access (ours does). I do think they affect sales prices, however. A 3 BR home sells for $10K less in my neighborhood, in spite of its Zestimate.

Of course, the last home we lived him has a Zestimate that is really inflated. I don't know why. None of it matters to a bank, anyway. They don't take Zillow into account. They look at houses sold in the last 6 months that are similar, and IME, they are more conservative than they used to be.

Whether Zillow is aiming to break into the automated real estate business or not, there are a ton people looking at the site who are there to browse homes (mostly).

Not all areas make residential listing and sale information readily available, an individual owner can update the information on their home/condo/townhouse/etc but not all care to do so - these days most people are at least aware of internet sites like Zillow, those who utilize them. that I've encountered, don't seem to view these sites as anything more than a place to look at homes and where to get a 'guesstimate' on what their place is worth.

My area used to be a mix of older neighborhoods and small businesses, when the latter started to leave and people began noticing the former wasn't enough to meet growing housing needs, local government stepped in to change zoning so that lots once occupied by commercial real estate could be razed and developed into housing. Personally, some of the housing that was built would make me claustrophobic - narrow, within reach for passing the neighbor the salt at dinner, micro-yards if any at all...Then there are the few streets where people with lots of money bought the houses on either side of them to demolish the structures and rebuild gigantic Mcmansion's in their place. One of those was listed on the MLS not too long ago, in the property description details there was a reference to being located in the one neighborhood that still permitted horse stables on the property in the area. That home is next door to the one built for someone who collects cars. :P

New(ish) housing built around older neighborhoods, more people staying put after buying a house limiting availability and reducing 'countable' comps seems to impact zestimates. :P

I have a good comp right across the street - same overall style / bedrooms / stories, lot size, year built - 300 less sq foot, but better view, and closed within 6 months. So I am thinking that I should be close to that sold # in a good market. I'd be happy more than with that. And that's about $20K less than the Estimate. Perhaps there is ONE economic upside to the glacial pace of the new house build. ;-)

I also suspect that in an area with wide swings, or few sales, that would impact the appraisers ability as well, but don't have that here.

I've not found appraisers to do all that much in the area of differentiation, using a pretty strict formula for puts and takes. And not keeping up with the times - for example a "built in fridge" only gets you money IF it's a SubZero - not Meile, or Thermador, etc. Green features mostly nothing, etc.

Starting the refi process - so will report back on sales, appraisal, zillow and redfin...

New loans for home purchasing are dealt with differently by the appraiser than a refi (at least here in SoCal).

Prop 13 has good and bad sides to it.

Good old Prop 13. Went from arguably the best schools and services in the Country to among the worst. Caused some of us to flee the state.

Garbage in garbage out. As an appraiser, I can state without a shadow of any doubt that their zestimates are more often wrong than right. If it is a vanilla property with many similar vanilla properties in close proximity with lots of recent recorded sales, they may stand a chance with a valuation. But, the minute some feature about the property changes, lack of recent sales, differences in lot size, location, square footage, features, condition, bedrooms, baths, outbuildings, basements, garages, pools, landscaping, neighbors, etc., the ability to deal with these issues diminishes the probability of even getting into the ball park. It's entertainment. Nothing more. I wouldn't base my investment on their data.

First of all, Zillow at its best can only provide sales comp-analysis without seeing the property in person. Appraisal is a more detailed professional opinion of price, based on at least two assessment methods. It also differs whether it is performed for mortgage loan, or tax assessment and etc.

If you are looking for a assessment of what your home would sell for, then I would recommend a local Realtor in your area. Being a Realtor myself, I can say that a Realtor in your area would be intimately familiar with your area, and would have the
latest sales comp data and tools to run a report very quickly. Nothing
like seeing your house in person and making the appropriate adjustments.

Good luck

Well I just checked on the first house I owned. Zillow didn't even have the number of bathrooms correct and my son and ex know the woman living there and know she didn't turn one of the full baths into a half bath.

UPDATE -

Zillow has $800K for price. Appraisal at $743K.

One difficulty is that our neighborhood hashed VERY few sales so the comps were fairly close neighborhoods with similar sized houses, but on 1/2 or less the lot size. When our house was compared to the house across the street that is the closest in size, style, quality and lot size, the comp value was $828K. The houses in the tightly packed neighborhood dragged down value.

One error was made, they omitted a bathroom. So we'll see what happens when they correct that.

I think that $775K is probably market.

Out of curiosity, I corrected the information for my house and the "zestimate" seems fairly accurate, given the recent sales in the area. They originally had the square footage and the number of bedrooms wrong (but so does the assessor). Realtor.com has the same incorrect information, but I don't see an option to correct it on their site (nor do I care to haha)

Yes, I had heard that Zillow was supposed to be within a certain percentage points. I bought my house for very cheap 1.5 years ago and Zillow now has it estimated for 300000 (which is what comparable homes sell for) but Red fin still only has it for 237000 (pd 200000).

I have a single family home but zillow and trulia has it as townhouse. I claimed it as owner to correct the error but zillow didn't let me to update it. It's current for sale and they pulled the data from MRIS. MRIS is correct. I contacted zillow and trulia but got no respond. Not sure why they would rather have false information. Other websites including Redfin, realtor.com, www.coldwellbanker.com, etc. have correct information. Zillow and trulia are the only sites with wrong data. Their estimate can be off when they use wrong data.

Posted by dollface121817: Yes, I had heard Zillow was supposed to be within a certain percentage points (sic). I bought my house for very cheap 1.5 years ago and Zillow now has it estimated for 300000 (which is what comparable homes sell for) but Red fin (sic) still only has it for 237000 (pd 200000).

^^There is no established percentage that you can use to determine actual market value from Zillow's Zestimates. It doesn't exist. You can calculate a percentage differential from the Zestimate to the actual closed price on each sold property, but then you will see a range of values. And, as pointed out up thread, the Zestimate changes as the information (right or wrong) changes in their database.

There isn't a percentage that can be used to determine values from Zillow prospectively.

I run into this discrepancy on a regular basis when I am providing market values for listings. I have seen the values higher than the Zestimates and also lower. I have to do the entire report to determine where the actual market value range is as of the listing appointment date. Markets change and so does market value. BTW, market value is always a range. Appraisers have to select a single point rather than a range, but the point they select is within the range.

Appraisers can determine a value prospectively but that is a different type of appraisal from the typical appraisal used for purchasing a residential property ordered by the bank.

Relying on Zestimates for anything other than entertainment value is going to result in disappointment because Zestimates do not take into account significant features of the home: view, location within a community, condition, and upgrades. A good appraiser takes all of these features into account in his or her valuation.

The price that my prior home sold for has apparently inspired others with similar sized units in the gated HOA putting theirs on the market for that amount, and hiked the listing prices for the larger units as well. The guy who bought one across from me is lucky to have closed before I listed mine because it was in so poor of shape last I heard he had spent over 50k to make it liveable and do some updates. Probably couldn't have afforded all that if he bought the place for the amount I was able to get for mine.

^Exactly what I meant - condition effects value and Zestimates have no way to program condition into their algorithm (yet) for zestimates.

Probably don't think they can rely on the homeowner to be objective about things like condition. :p The guy who bought across from me got a unit with wood paneling on the walls, carpet that hadn't been replaced since 1978 when it was new, and the original stove. Amongst other problematic things.

You are right Jenn. Not only that, but the photos are unreliable. I have pulled up to quite a few homes to show them and the photos in the MLS (which is where Zillow usually gets their photos) are from 5 years ago (as an example) and the house is nothing like the photos show. That is why the lenders need their eyes and ears on the ground - the appraiser - to give their rating on condition as it relates to the recent sales.

I won't say the photos for my listing were 100% reliable as to what the place looked like 100% of the time, but once all the blinds were open and every last light in the house was turned on, it was pretty close. :p Seemed like every agent who came for a showing remarked on it looking like the photos with a positive tone.

My agent had gotten additional light fixtures installed, the additional smoke and carbon monoxide detectors put in, a sink faucet replaced which stopped the pull out sprayer leak (it was old and over time they often begin to drip) before we even put the listing on MLS. The only thing that came up during the inspection was making sure the gas ignition on the wood burning fireplace was working, and we had the chimney cleaned after that was done. I had the place painted and new carpet/floors put in Spring 2016, cast iron tub and tile surround with glass shower doors put in the bathroom in 2006, new fridge new microwave 2016 - the condition was night and day in comparison to the one across from mine. It really is important to have a good agent though, not just for the sale and/or purchase but also to have them tap their contacts for everything from paint and floors, to roof, electric, tile installer, stoneyard/fabricator...etc etc.

^^Oh yes. Most of us that have been in the real estate business for any length of time have contacts for all types of repair work and rehab work and general contractors and subs. Many of us have purchased homes and rehabbed them too so our contacts are put through the test with our own properties and those of our clients. Otherwise we just wouldn't be in business very long at all. :)

Some things you can learn to do and subjects you can 'pick up' to build your knowledge base, others you need someone with the specific kind experience and business network to come in and help make your life SO much easier just hiring them. My SoCal agent has an amazing paint contractor and phenomenal floor + blinds/shades/shutters guy that has a trustworthy, skilled crew who I will miss next time I am doing the floors and carpet replacement (plus I'm now across the country).

I did get a regular handyman in our new state/city, he'll be the one we call in for basic stuff I can't reach and the mister is out of town, the trivial stuff like to put in dimmer switches, and undoubtedly situations where it saves money compared to having the mister do something and then calling a pro to fix what he did and also the problem he was trying to fix. The local agent who handled our home purchase here introduced us to him.

LOL! I just got a "property report" emailed from Zillow. They're still showing the original house, three years after we bought it, two years after it was removed to another location, and 1 year + after getting a COO for a new, ground up custom build.

They're not only nearly $700K OFF on the value of our home, their lot prices are completely wrong, within real, live comps. As in, if this was still the original, and we were just looking at land value? :) Clueless.

I get Zilliow as an aggregator. But they certainly have no clue in my city. Do I care?

Not really, as I'm not selling. But it is adorable to see out of town "investors" who think they can snag the property- less adorable to field calls from their Realtors- hot to offer!!- who don't even bother to check the property history.

Sometimes, Zillow just wastes time.

So, did you claim ownership of the property and correct Zillow, or did you just post to rag on Zillow?

"Sometimes, Zillow just wastes time."

And sometimes it is spot on.

I just looked up our home (Suburban MD) on Zillow. Their estimate for our townhouse is about $2K less than the neighbors 2 doors down sold for 2 years ago, and $8K less than our next door neighbors sold for 3 months ago. Given that we are the end unit (usually more attractive) and have updated kitchens and baths, I'm thinking the Zestimate might be a little low. But it's in the ballpark.

Presumably Zillow will not be aware of the conditions of recent updated baths and kitchens in your unit - nor in the comps.

Saltidawg- there is no reason for me to claim ownership on property, in this market- where Zillow doesn't know a thing. Basically? I'm not here to do their business- that which they claim as "expert". Don't need them.

Maybe, sometimes, spot on, in certain markets. But you know?

They want to try to place themselves as "experts" in my market? LOL- then perhaps they should actually know the market.

The algorithm is only as good as the data people who own a property provide.

Yep. And it's entirely backwards from what Zillow sells.

Here...z estimate 360k...sold in 6 days for 434k. Appraised for that also. Another z estimaE 345k...sold for 411k. Another zest 375...sold for 449k in 11 days. Another z est 399k...sold for 454k

On cheaper homes...z est 165...sold for 113k appraised for 120k.

Z est are a joke

Get 3 realtor market analysis done to get an idea of what it will appraise for.

It's a joke here, in upstate NY. We bought the lot next to our home. It had a former grange building on it that was falling down and would have taken many more millions than we had to fix the foundation. We had it torn down, after salvaging what we wanted for lumber. Zillow has it valued at $158,000. I've tried to update the facts and change it into vacant land, but they won't change it. Even when it was still there, all they did was take the square footage and use that as the value. It wasn't a residence and had no kitchen, working electrical or plumbing. It was essentially a barn, without the historic barnwood.

I agree with the other commentators - Don't count on Zillow's "Zestimates". I buy/sell RE and my father is an appraiser. It's funny how different the numbers are on some properties, and in the ballpark on others. It's all subjective anyway as the market is always changing. Best of Luck.

Zillow is all over. My current house when I bought it appraised for 25k more than the Zestimate. Now, it'll appraise (with all new most everything) for likely 10-15k below the Zestimate, which is also where my selling point will be. Appraisers tend to be less prone to peaks and valleys in the market. In a down market, such as when I bought my house in 2012, they'll usually appraise above. In a hot hot market like right now, they appraise under. The Zestimate is just silly though, if I believe that then my house has gone up in value by 60% since this time last year. It has gone up about 25-30% in reality, which is still an exceptional spike.

Those who have called it "entertainment" are dead on. Their estimates are based on square footage, typical suburban homes and even then nothing like condition or specific neighborhoods is taken into account. How could you expect any entity to know the value of something without seeing it in person/have in-depth knowledge of the property? There are far too many variables in play. We sold a turnkey 1870 farmhouse that had a 10' wide MB, tiny cl/bath which we were afraid would really hurt us. What Zillow didn't see however was the setting, dramatic sunroom, antique features, landscaping, gardens and primarily the inside of our three-story barn which was THE icing on the cake. Zillow was off by over 25% and as it turned out 2 parties, including the buyers, would've paid $50k more than asking but we were under a little bit of a time crunch so we had priced aggressively. My opinion is if Z gets close it's because they just got plain lucky or the house is exactly like many comps in the area. I find Redfin to be much much closer...at least in our area they are.

jama has quite a jaded opinion about Zillow, it seems possibly an agenda.

Zillow is simply one of many, many tools available to a home buyer or seller. Neither jama nor I know what the algorithm is tha Zillow uses to determine its Z estimate, nor do we know the algorithm used by other sites and in the final analysis an appraisal is, by definition, somewhat subject to personal biases and mistakes.

In my area the Z estimate is actually pretty darn spot on based on my research. If my research is in error, than I'm mistaken. But I would not consider the broad opinion about Zillow posted by folks who have not considered my area of interest. Zillow is simply one of many, many tools.

SaltiDawg Why are you so sensitive and defensive in multiple comments here?People, including myself are merely stating their experiences. Mine are not only with that one house but three other homes. Add to that friends houses, realtor friends experiences and hundreds of homes that I looked at online over many years. The OPs question was not about what tools do people use but whether specifically Zillow is reliable and that is what people are commenting on.

Everyone gets to have an opinion here, that’s kind of the beauty in a site like this one. :)

If I'm gonna solder two electrical connections together, a hand saw does me no good.

Interesting twists and turns and the conversation is kind of like one we're having at work - where is AI valuable, and where are "soft skills / people focused skills" valuable?

In Zillow, I would think that they have a myriad of tools available from which to draw and SHOULD be reflective of what an appraiser SHOULD use, as well. Appraisers are supposed to be a data driven as possible to remove bias and the potential for fraud. Banks want a very "safe" value estimation to reduce their risk.

OTOH - a Realtor i would view as having a forward looking perspective to judge (or intuit) the market GOING FORWARD in order to advise their client on the future attractiveness and appreciation of a property that they will take into consideration that would be different than an appraisal number. Also, for the seller, the Realtor should be able to see that same thing and price accordingly. Appraiser (and Zillow) likely use only backward looking tools, but I would expect Realtors to add insight and the more emotional aspects of any transaction in order to be able to give better insight into the future state and if something is priced right / a good deal based on a more forward view.

jama7,

I guess that you are unable to understand that some folks highly value Zillow's valuations and some tend to not value Zillow's valuations.

However, you obviously have an agenda wherein you feel it is important to go on and on about how bad Zillow is.

All I have said is, "In my area the Z estimate is actually pretty darn spot on based on my research.
If my research is in error, than I'm mistaken. But I would not
consider the broad opinion about Zillow posted by folks who have not
considered my area of interest. Zillow is simply one of many, many
tools."

I do not suggest Zillow is at all accurate in your area, however you should not be knocking Zillow outside of your area of experience... and you need to consider the possibility that you do no actually have a clue about property valuations in your area. (You'll note that I did just that in my post.)

Zillow is but one of many tools. Realtors and other sources of advice and council are also tools. Each individual must decide what weight must be given to each such tool and hope that they are correct in sorting all the tools out.

In process of closing on a house in Spacecoast Florida. Zestimate said $163,000 and appraisal after conditions are met was $160,000 so it was pretty close for my area. These are old houses too(1960) so prices varied for sales based on upgrades but my seller did most of the "important" upgrades within last 5 years ie: plumbing, electrical, HVAC, roof, water heater, but no new windows,.. and there were some upgrades done yrs back to bathrooms and kitchen(custom cabinetry but not countertops)and ceramic tile in main rooms and baths, but still not up to todays demanding market. So all in all since it is a basic pool home with a rare 2 car garage(most homes around here have concrete carports or basic 1 car garages) and the conditions are going to be around $2000+ to fix I'd say the appraisal was dead on with Zestimate.

***EDITED TO ADD*** We are purchasing home out the door after all costs for $155,000 and current sales in our area are around $135,000 to $156,000.

"appraisal after conditions are met was $160,000" (Whatever that means.)

"We are purchasing home out the door after all costs for $155,00." (Whatever that means.)

Is this not an issue?

The Zestimate on my house was 70k lower than the apprasial.

And two of my neighbors recently sold - in both cases the Zestimate was essentially identical to the appraisal.

Not sure what that "proves."

zillow is way off on my house zestimate, and it also shows an entirely different house location, on the map. If I go to Trulia, they are also off on the estimate, and they actually have a picture of the house....only thing... its not my house. Has no resemblence to mine at all. Its a house that is much older and is 2 stories with a sagging roof, and so far, as I can tell, not even located on my road. Of course, gps cant find my house either, so maybe it doesnt exist. LOL

cat-ky are you using your mail address to find your house? I know it will sound strange but when my parents house first received a street mail address their address was listed on a side road and not the road where the house faced. They continued to receive mail but had to have it corrected. I would also look at what the country has as your gps coordinates vs. what will show on your phone if you stand in the middle of your house. You may find that the house shown on Zillow has the coordinates the county has for your dwelling. You may be right that your house does not exist if the land was not reported to the county correctly when it was built. Especially if it used to be farm land.

My house has had the exact same addresss and the road is right in front of it, and is on a main road in my town, since 1968. It is in correct location on all city maps. Just not on most gps. My cousin just recently got a new car, and her updated newer gps, did find it easily when she came to visit, but, so far, thats the only gps that has worked. Zillow has it listed on the wrong side of the road, has wrong square footage, wrong everything. There isnt even a house, where zillow puts me. LOL I am not sure what road Trulia puts me on, since I have never seen that house before, anywhere around here. I should add, that it did have my last house in right location, but, it had a totally off zestimate.

Doh,

"but, so far, thats (sic) the only gps that has worked. Zillow has it listed on the wrong side of the road," That's not Zillow's fault. Aps such as Zillow, Waze, my Radar Detector, etc, etc, do not use their own "maps," but rther one or two common data bases.

"My cousin just recently got a new car, and her updated newer gps,.." It is not that the hardware in her new car is any more accurate, it simply suggests that her current/recent data base in her GPS reflects the correct location for your home.