Zillow is a billion-dollar Internet marketer that provides "z-estimates" which claim to figure the ideal price of every residence in the United States. Zillow tries to accomplish this feat by using a fancy logarithm that crossreferences factors which impact home values, but here's a story I have heard from property 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 search the web for the phrase "Can I trust Zillow?" or "Can I trust Z-Estimates" you'll find many complaints by upset homeowners and leery home buyers who have discovered the hard way just out inaccurate Zillow's pricing can be. Many people in Alexandria_knolls claim that Zillow's estimates have a margin of error of around 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 value. If the margin of error is an improbable 5% that means that a z-estimate is only within $25,000 of the asking price.

Yet Zillow still remains popular with some buyers and sellers. Home sellers and real estate buyers should know that there is not a single neighborhood in Alexandria_knolls where either a bank or tax collector uses Internet for tax assessment or appraisals. Our professional advice is to take estimates from any website at arm’s length. Putting too much stock into a website can cause a lot of confusion.

Reach out to one of our agents today for a free comparative market analysis of your property's market value. We promise that a computer won't set the sales value. Instead, your friendly neighborhood Nesbitt Realty real estate agent will take into account the unique variables which make up your property's market value.