Can I depend on some Internet company to figure out the value of my home in Riverside_estates?
Zillow is a billion-dollar website that "gives" automated estimates that claim to calculate the ideal price of every residence in the United States. Zillow tries to achieve this this task by using a fancy logarithm which compares factors which alter property values, but here's a story I have heard from real estate 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 Internet for the phrase "Can I trust Zillow?" or "Can I trust Z-Estimates" you'll discover many posts by angry homeowners and skeptical home buyers who have discovered the hard way just out inaccurate Zillow's pricing can be. Many people in Riverside_estates report that Zillow's valuations 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 ideal price. If the margin of error is an impressive 5% that means that a z-estimate is only within $25,000 of the asking price.
Yet Zillow (for now) remains popular with some buyers and sellers. Real estate sellers and real estate purchasers should understand that there is not a single neighborhood in Riverside_estates where either a mortgage lender or tax collector uses Zillow for tax assessment or appraisals. Our professional advice is to take "valuations" from any website at arm’s length. Putting too much trust into a website can cause a great deal of irration.
Talk to one of our agents 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 expert will measure the unique variables which make up your property's ideal price.
