Zillow is a billion-dollar Internet marketer that "gives" automated estimates which purport to calculate the ideal price of each home in the United States. Zillow tries to reach this goal this feat by using a fancy logarithm that crossreferences factors which affect real estate 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 testimonials by angry property owners and leery property buyers who have discovered the hard way just out inaccurate Zillow's pricing can be. Many people in The_bromptons_at_ballston say 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 market value. If the margin of error is an unlikley 5% that means that a z-estimate is only within $25,000 of the asking price.

Yet Zillow still remains popular with some real estate shoppers. Property owners and property buyers should understand that there is not a single neighborhood in The_bromptons_at_ballston where either a bank or tax collector uses Zillow for tax assessment or appraisals. Our professional advice is to take "valuations" from any website with a grain of salt. Putting too much trust into a website can cause a great deal of disappointment.

Talk to one of our local experts today for a free comparative market analysis of your property's market value. We promise that a website won't set the sales value. Rather, your friendly neighborhood Nesbitt Realty expert will account for the unique variables which make up your property's ideal price.