With the current scenario, I do not think anyone can appraise a property very accurate..And we all know how the property were appriased last few years..The prices of home now depends what other homes are listed/sold at the current time..and by the time anyone gets that info it is already two months and prices have come down by another 15K to 25K..thats what happening in southern california..So whether you get the appriased or you ask the real estate agent, I believe the best is to look at hat the bank owned homes are listed for.. they are mostly lited below the current market and that's what is getting sold these days..

Mon Apr 28 2008, 13:15

I would trust it for as far as you can throw you computer. I haven't found it to be very accurate.

Sat Feb 23 2008, 07:44

A buyer would never be foolish enough to decide how much to pay for a house with only the data that Zillow or any of those websites use.

Knowing the average prices in a neighborhood might be interesting for some reason but it never even gives a rough guide as to what a house is worth. You don't really buy a house based on the square footage...or maybe I shoudl say instead...it would be foolish to buy a house based on square footage.

Sat Feb 23 2008, 07:17

Zestimates are not at all accurate... they're not even a good starting point. The zestimate on my home is off by at least 20% (too high). And as you can imagine, Realtors are pretty good at keeping track in the market of what their own homes are worth.

Sat Feb 23 2008, 06:41

It really depends on why you are looking. I tell people it is like a dating site. Take everything with a grain of salt, but it can be useful! I heard in a recent technology class that they are making their updates more frequent now, which should decrease some of the price gaps they were experiencing.

If you are looking to buy or sell, you should be working with an experienced agent who can provide all that information to you, in the best format for you.

Fri Feb 22 2008, 20:54

Be careful. It is my experience in our location that Zillow doesn't always make a destinction between "high rent districts " and other areas. Zillow is a great resource but it, like most other real estate tools, has its limitations and it's best to be cautious until we have identified them.

The "Eckler Team"
Century 21 Almar & Associates
Venice, Fl 34285
941-408-5363

Fri Feb 8 2008, 19:24

Zillow does a good job for what it is. An estimate. It has some easy to read data on the neighborhood and the house. But if the house has not been updated by the owner or a realtor then the info is from the tax record and can be out of date or just plain inaccurate. As most of the answers have said, ask a realtor for a no obligation CMA competitive market analysis and they will be more able to take into account the trends of the neighborhood and the area market in general. There is no substitute other than paying an appraiser. Feel free to contact me Mac Mccord mac@macmccord.com

Fri Feb 8 2008, 18:41

They have really confused some of my sellers with a price today ot 10-25% higher than real value, and later at 10-25% less than real value.
I good Realtor can give you a CMA (Competitive Market Analysis) or pay the price and have an appraiser do a complete work up on your home - a local Realtor that really knows whats happening in the area will always be more accurate than those web sites!

Bill Wootan - Team Leader
Team One @ Century21 H T Brown

Thu Feb 7 2008, 12:43

Hi Steve,
No one truly knows what a house for sell for in this real estate market. Realtors can give opinions, Zillow can give you an opinion, your neighbor can give their opinion. The comps from a few months ago are not even accurate. Sellers and buyers need to be very flexible right now. Buyers really decide the right price for a property. Everything else is an educated guess. A home seller or realtor can update a listing in Zillow to more accurately reflect their particular home. If the house has not been updated in Zillow it usually is not very accurate. Last week I updated my listing at 18909 Lark Song Terrace in Germantown. Zillow had it listed as a single family home, it is a townhome. That made all the data on that street innacurate. I would be happy to speak with you about Zillow or any other questions you might have. Please feel free to call (240-997-8654)or e-mail (annmarieclements@gmail.com) me with any other questions you might have. Have a wondful day!
Ann Marie

Thu Feb 7 2008, 12:16

Automated online estimates of market value of any property is seriously flawed regardless of which site does it. The sales history that these sites put out of past sales do give you some idea of how things have done in the community. If you really want to know current market conditions for a specific property have a skilled agent perform this for you. Otherwise for academic fun any site is good.

Thu Feb 7 2008, 11:51

From what I have seen the Zestimates can be very incorrect. They tend to follow trends and over-react to any recent change on the market. Three years ago; it undervalued my own home by about 40%. Currently it over-values it by about 20%. I have seen the same examples on many other properties. For a REAL value; contact an Appraiser; which will charge you about $400 or many local Realtors, like myself; will be willing to help you for no initial charge.

Thu Feb 7 2008, 11:34

As a REALTOR and an economist I don't think it is that accurate Steve.
There are 4 methods to value a property in Real Estate. The 4th or Multiple Regression Analysis is probably most similar to what zestimate does. It essentially is a statistical method for spitting out a price based on several factors, once enough data points are obtained. But frankly what zestimate does is oversimplify this process and the more they do that, the less accurate it is.
When an appraiser uses this method (or an economist) there are literally over 100 inputs. Zestimate doesn't have anything close to this, they might have 2-3 dozen at best (based on a very thorough assessor's data) and this too is likely to be quite outdated. Think about how long it takes the assessor to figure out that you put new vinyl siding on your house, or added some skylights, etc.
The point is, that to do something like this is very complex and sure a computer program can (and is required) to do it. But this only really works if they have those 100+ data points. Everything from the type of moldings and floor coverings to a time dating variable (to account for inflation, appreciation, depreciation, etc. in a given market) are considered. How could zestimate possibly do this?? They cannot.
So ultimately what you have is a "zestimate", just that something close, maybe within 10% of the price. And frankly that's about as accurate as what your neighbor Bob, or your cousin Sherrie could tell you.
If you want a good value, call a couple REALTORS, they'll typically do a comparative market analysis for free and I think this is generally a better method, at least on residential real estate.

Brendan Murphy
Broker, CRS, GRI, ePro
Raving Real Estate
Laramie, Wyoming

Thu Feb 7 2008, 11:08