Zillow
 

I just poked around at Zillow for an hour or so, and while I know the "Zestimates" are a little faulty and "just a guide," my home seems to have appreciated almost $200K in the past year (no, not a veiled brag, because I am very confident it's just a screwup in their "proprietary formula").

In any event, upon further investigation, I found the Zillow discussion boards where there's talk of class action lawsuits and horrifyingly underestimated home values.

Does anyone have any experience using Zillow? I obviously don't want to call my agent to see if she can explain a 25% appreciation, as I imagine she'll smell blood in the water and talk me into listing it, which I absolutely do NOT want to do.

Any Zillow advice or testimonials or horror stories or anecdotes?

Re: Zillow
 

[ QUOTE ]
I just poked around at Zillow for an hour or so, and while I know the "Zestimates" are a little faulty and "just a guide," my home seems to have appreciated almost $200K in the past year (no, not a veiled brag, because I am very confident it's just a screwup in their "proprietary formula").

In any event, upon further investigation, I found the Zillow discussion boards where there's talk of class action lawsuits and horrifyingly underestimated home values.

Does anyone have any experience using Zillow? I obviously don't want to call my agent to see if she can explain a 25% appreciation, as I imagine she'll smell blood in the water and talk me into listing it, which I absolutely do NOT want to do.

Any Zillow advice or testimonials or horror stories or anecdotes?

[/ QUOTE ]

Eh, it's anecdotal, but from personal experience I know of two homes who appreciated huge in the past two years, and sold in the past six months for in the upper regions of the Zillow range, and the other right in the middle.

Re: Zillow
 

IMO, lots of variance with Zillow. Some stuff is dead on and other stuff is way off.

Re: Zillow
 

My house is on a small lot, something like 4,960 square feet. Zillow has it listed at 49,600 square feet. The valuation is thus quite off.

Re: Zillow
 

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IMO, lots of variance with Zillow. Some stuff is dead on and other stuff is way off.

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This seems to be the rule.

In which case the Zestimate is a useless tool and should be ignored, I guess.

<sigh>

I suppose it's a good site for seeing previous sales and tax activity and whatnot.

Re: Zillow
 

I think it can be a decent indicator for the range your house is in. It is obviously a good free tool to see the price of houses that sold in the area.

Re: Zillow
 

The Zillow estimate on my house is off by over $100K, as is every other home in my town. I believe they use some type of tax valuation provided by the town.

Re: Zillow
 

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My house is on a small lot, something like 4,960 square feet.

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Wait, seriously? Do you have a single yard let alone two? Do you have to park on the street?

Re: Zillow
 

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[ QUOTE ]
My house is on a small lot, something like 4,960 square feet.

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Wait, seriously? Do you have a single yard let alone two? Do you have to park on the street?

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Two small yards, iirc + his homies park up the road. Everything's Smaller in Los Feliz.

Re: Zillow
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My house is on a small lot, something like 4,960 square feet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wait, seriously? Do you have a single yard let alone two? Do you have to park on the street?

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Two small yards, iirc + his homies park up the road. Everything's Smaller in Los Feliz.

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Tiny yard in front, patio in the back.

You want crazy? My small house on a small lot is worth nearly a million bucks. Ridiculous.