Zillow is a popular website that provides "z-estimates" that claim to figure the sales value of every residence in the United States. Zillow tries to achieve this this task by using a sophisticated program which crossreferences factors which impact real estate 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 research the web for the phrase "Can I trust Zillow?" or "Can I trust Z-Estimates" you'll find countless complaints by upset property owners and skeptical real estate purchasers who have discovered the hard way just out inaccurate Zillow's pricing can be. Many people in Palisades_park say that Zillow's estimates have a margin of error of approximately 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 (for now) remains popular with some real estate shoppers. Real estate sellers and property buyers should know that there is not a single neighborhood in Palisades_park where either a bank or tax collector uses Internet for tax assessment or appraisals. Our expert advice is to take "valuations" from any computer with a grain of salt. Putting too much trust into a website can cause a great deal of irration.

Reach out to Nesbitt Realty today for a free comparative market analysis of your property's worth. We promise that a computer won't set the value. Instead, your friendly neighborhood Nesbitt Realty real estate pro will measure the complicated variables which make up your real estate's sales value.