Zillow

Zillow Zestimates pretty good to way off in Chicago

Thumbnail image for Zillow Zestimates pretty good to way off in Chicago May 21, 2010

I received an email from Zillow.com this morning with a link to their Chicago home values. A nice looking chart of Zillow’s Home Value Index for Chicago appeared. Zillow defines the index as the mid-point of Zestimate valuations for Chicago. Half the Zestimates are above this number and half are below it. A Zestimate is Click to continue...

Interesting Chicago Tribune article on Zillow.com

Thumbnail image for Interesting Chicago Tribune article on Zillow.com March 5, 2010

The Chicago Tribune’s Mary Ellen Podmolik has an interesting article today about a study on the accuracy of Zillow’s Zestimates (estimates of residential property values). Professors at the University of Texas at San Antonio concluded that Zillow overvalues properties. In their study Zillow overestimated home values for 40% of homes by more than 10%. Zillow Click to continue...

Zillow Zestimate Stresses New Home Buyer

May 7, 2009

A recent home buyer contacted me this week asking about the value of his new townhouse in the near northwest suburbs. He bought it last fall for $435,000. He contacted me after seeing its zestimate (estimated value) on Zillow for only $120,000! This is one of the more extreme examples I’ve seen of Zillow zestimates Click to continue...

Barrington House Sale Prices Drop 27% 4th Qtr. 2008!

January 14, 2009

Last night I reviewed market statistics for house sales in Barrington. A friend of mine who owns a house in Barrington is wondering if she should sell her home now. The median sale price# for houses in Barrington for the last quarter of 2008 dropped 27% from the same period a year earlier from $642,500 Click to continue...

Trulia’s Heat Map for Cook County

January 10, 2007

After I wrote about Zillow’s heat map for the Chicago area the other day, Megan Kamil, a product manager at Trulia.Com sent me a note about their new heat maps. To the left is their heat map for Cook County showing average prices by zip code. Trulia.Com also lets users search for homes for sale Click to continue...

Zillow’s Chicago Real Estate Prices Map

January 8, 2007

While I have often pointed out the poor job that Zillow.Com does when estimating home values, I have always acknowledged some of Zillow’s other technical features. This map of Chicago Metro Area Home Prices is an example. Zillow calls it a heat map since the hotter colors represent higher prices per square foot. For example, Click to continue...

Zillow Overestimates House Value by Over 23%

December 11, 2006

Friday was the closing for 1103 S. Highland Ave. in Arlington Heights, a house that my buyers purchased for $585,000. I checked Zillow.Com’s “zestimate” today and found it to be $723,646, more than 23% higher! How can Zillow be so off? Bad data? You can’t blame it on bad data which is sometimes the case Click to continue...

Sneak a Peek, But Don’t Put Money on It

May 12, 2006

This morning’s print version of the Daily Herald has an article, “Sneaking a peek”, on Internet sites where you can see what your friends, co-workers and neighbor’s paid for their homes and the homes’ estimated values. Such sites have been around for several years, but recently they have gotten more numerous and more technically sophisticated. Click to continue...

A Good Thought on the Value of a Home

April 20, 2006

Chicago area mortgage banker, Dan Green, sent me a nice note regarding my post 2 days ago, “Buyers, Beware of Zillow“. Dan also included a link to a post on his blog about Zillow, “My Zillow Hangup“. In the post, Dan makes an important point about the value of a home. It depends on the Click to continue...

Buyers, Beware of Zillow!

April 18, 2006

In the last 2 weeks I did a market analysis for 3 different buyers to help them decide what to offer on homes. After doing my analysis, I checked each home on Zillow.Com, a much hyped home value estimator. For a house in Evanston, Zillow had zero data. The house appears on Zillow’s satellite view, Click to continue...

If Only Poor Writers Were an “Endangered Species” Part 3 of 3

March 10, 2006

In parts 1 and 2 of this post I pointed out 4 significant errors in the New York Times Magazine article on real estate agents titled, “Endangered Species” by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt. See “If Only Poor Writers Were an “Endangered Species” Part 1 of 3″ and “If Only Poor Writers Were Click to continue...

Norwood Park, a Dutch Colonial & Zillow Goes Crazy!

February 21, 2006

Today I worked on a market analysis for a very nice 3 bedroom 2 bath Dutch Colonial in the Norwood Park area of Chicago. Norwood Park is in the far northwest part of Chicago, west of Jefferson Park, south of Edison Park and the suburb of Niles, east of O’ Hare International Airport, and north Click to continue...

Zillow Case Study – 17W322 Karban Rd., Oakbrook Terrace

February 18, 2006

This morning I was working on some marketing for my new listing at 17W322 Karban Rd in Oakbrook Terrace. I’m marketing it to builders since the lot size is nearly half an acre, one of the largest lots in Oakbrook Terrace. Lots of new large homes are being built in the area since a few Click to continue...

Zillow Fight!

February 11, 2006

I’m trying to keep an open mind about the new home value estimator, Zillow.Com, but I’m yet to be impressed. My friend, Erin, e-mailed me this morning and said she loved Zillow, but found some of the square footage data incorrect. It wasn’t adding first and second floor square footage. I entered addresses for several Click to continue...

Home Value Estimator, Zillow.Com, Beta Version Live

February 8, 2006

Want a free instant estimate of a home’s value? Starting today you can get value estimates for more than 60 million homes on Zillow.Com. Currently, only the beta version is available so expect improvements when the final version is released. Enter a home’s address and Zillow provides for free: an estimate of the home’s value Click to continue...