A luxury home is one of the most difficult properties to appraise because sold comps are limited and value can increase or decrease on views, sq feet, location (interior lot, busy street, cul-de-sac, hill top, golf, etc), interior and exterior features, design and appeal all have to be taken into consideration. The appraiser also needs to know construction and prices because certain materials are more expensive than others. Zillow does not take all this into effect and includes old sales. Even though zillow is a great place to begin and see a value your best bet would be to ask the listing agent for its current appraisal or current comps that reflect the asking price.

Remember to use
Comps sold within 6 months (newer sales show value best), preferably within 4 months
Sq ft (500 above and 500 below sq ft)
Location, Location, Location (Try to find one or more in the subdivision)
Short Sales and Bank Owned are the market and should not be ignored.

Good luck

The problem is that it is taking awhile for sales to be recorded on the county level which is where Zillow is getting their sales data. With that being said, properties reflected on Zillow listed and sold 5-8 months ago and are not a true reflection of the market today. Any full service broker should be willing to GIVE you what has sold right off of the mls without you having to wait for Zillow to post the sale.
Martha McDonnell Coldwell Banker Summit NJ http://www.Summit-NJ.com

Gut check, what do you think the home is worth?

Zillow is a great recourse for blanket subdivisions where homes are very similar. But in luxury home range you can find a lot upgrades and differences in construction, etc. So don't look at Zillow for a price. Ask your agent for a Comparative Analysis and then look for that agent for advice.

That is what we get paid for, and most that are still in the business are pretty good at giving advice and helping you finalize the sale.

You may want to have a real estate agent get an accurate account of sales in the area, or a current market anaylis. That home is located close to Paradise Valley. depending on the address and age of the home it may be accurate. Zillow isn't allways accurate. Also, in reference to appraisers most of them are not considering comps more than 3 months old, unless that is all there is to compare with. A good agent should be able to find accurate comps.

I'll likely irritate some agents by saying this, but another way to get the value of a home is to have an appraisal (a real appraisal) conducted. It will probably cost you $300 - $500.
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I advise sellers to get appraisals all the time. But they don't want to pay and be proven wrong. That said, I have advised buyers to put appraisal contingencies in their offers. An appraisal is only good for a short period of time.

1. Zillow is the WRONG place to find the right value of a home.
2. If Zillow said the house was worth $3 million and it was listed for $1.9, would you be asking this question?

Mavi,
The house apprased on zillow is an fast estimated, If you are planning to buy a luxury property keep in mind that days on the market are longer for luxury properties. 90 days is not bad, expect to see it for a longer period. There are less buyers for this type of property. Work with a REALTOR and have him/her work for you, pull comps to see what would be the fair market value, ask the listing agent for his/her comps, What comes did he/she used?. If you are set in this property get an appraisal that knows-work with luxury properties.
Best wishes

Hi Mavi,

Zillow is great to play with but isn't a serious way to go about pricing a home. Sounds like you're looking at a luxury property. Ask fo the pricing appraisal, most luxury properties have one completed prior to listing the home. If they haven't had one done have your realtor pull comps and make an offer.

If you're paying cash then I'd suggest you spend the $800 for an appraisal. Make sure you get an appraiser that is experienced with luxury properties and the area you're looking to buy in.

Mavi -

As Brad said, Zillow isn't the best place to get the true market value of a house. While they are often fairly accurate in the Phoenix metro area (I don't know about other parts of AZ, and am not sure where in AZ you are), one needs to keep in mind that Zillow's Zestimate are simply estimates based on an algorithm. It's just software that has no way of knowing what the inside of the home looks like, the condition of the home, or any of dozens of other factors that make up a homes value.

I'll likely irritate some agents by saying this, but another way to get the value of a home is to have an appraisal (a real appraisal) conducted. It will probably cost you $300 - $500.

As to what is a "fair offer", that is a difficult question to answer. On the surface, it would seem that "market value" would be fair to both the buyer and the seller. But market value is difficult for two real estate professionals to agree on, much less a buyer and a seller that are emotionally invested in the transaction.

Mavi,

While Zillow offers some great tools for making real estate decisions and gathering information - it's pricing isn't always accurate enough to make a decision on an offer.

You'd want to speak with an agent/REALTOR who can pull comparable sales and listings in the area/community of the home. The comparable sales would be homes similar to the property you are considering purchasing and then looking at what they sold for. An agent would also may be able to look up historical values of the property depending on it's age, etc.

You could go to the Maricopa County Assesor's office and look at the data there too (http://www.maricopa.gov/assessor/).

A range of $800,000 ($1.1 - $1.9) is a significant range to be making an offer based on Zillow data alone.

Good luck!