Can I trust Zillow to appraise the sales price of my home in Valley View Estates?
Zillow is a billion-dollar Internet marketer that provides automated estimates which purport to calculate the ideal price of each home in the United States. Zillow tries to accomplish this task by using a sophisticated program that compares factors which affect home values, but here's a typical story I have heard from home sellers in Northern Virginia:
Our home was recently appraised for 650K. Zillow estimates the value at 521K. The estimate makes us one of the lowest priced homes in the subdivision. We have all upgrades in our home and it is the largest of the homes that were originally built in this subdivision. It was appraised at 750K before 2009. Our home has a basement. Neighbors do not have basement on one side and you appraised higher. Really? -- James E. - Fort Hunt
If you Google the web for the phrase "Can I trust Zillow?" or "Can I trust Z-Estimates" you'll discover countless complaints by upset homeowners and skeptical real estate buyers who have discovered the hard way just out inaccurate Zillow's pricing can be. Many people in Valley View Estates report that Zillow's valuations have a margin of error of about 20%. Even if we assume the margin of error is only 10%, in Northern Virginia that means a "z-estimate" is only within $50,000 of the actual market value. If the margin of error is an astounding 5% that means that a z-estimate is only within $25,000 of the asking price.
Yet Zillow (for now) remains popular with some real estate shoppers. Real estate sellers and property buyers should know that there is not a single community in Valley View Estates where either a mortgage lender or tax collector uses Zillow for tax assessment or appraisals. Our professional advice is to take estimates from any computer with a grain of salt. Putting too much trust into a computer logarithm can cause a lot of disappointment.
Contact us today for a free comparative market analysis of your property's worth. We promise that a computer won't set the ideal price. Rather, your friendly neighborhood Nesbitt Realty real estate agent will account for the many variables which make up your property's market value.
