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 being way off the mark.
Automated home valuation systems such as Zillow base home values off of public data much of which is incorrect or incomplete. As many of us learned in our first computer science class, “garbage in, garbage out”.
If you’re going to be buying a home and want an estimate of its value, contact me. As your buyer agent, I’ll not only provide an estimate, but explain what I based it on.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fran Bailey shows, previews and tracks downtown Chicago homes for sale giving her the insights needed to help her clients negotiate the best price and terms. Fran has been quoted in numerous Chicago and national publications. To schedule showings of listings regardless of broker or to contact Fran email her at fran.bailey@bairdwarner.com or call 773.793.4516. Learn More
Fran Bailey, Realtor
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Sorry about this Fran – that is quite far off. We certainly wish all zestimates were dead on, but there are certainly outliers like this that we get wrong. Can you please send me the address of the home so i can have our data team take a look? Either via e-mail at drewm at zillow (.) com or on twitter at twitter.com/drewmeyers is fine. Thanks for the feedback.
I am impressed that a representative followed up on this blog. Wow, I always read notes on those sites from people freaking out, begging to get the numbers or data correct.
These sites reach a big market and are a great research tool for buyers and sellers… but owners panic when they feel like they are driving down prices. Still, I recommend clients use them as they wish http://dougfrancishomes.com/2009/05/buyer-agent-search-strategy-home-vienna-virginia/ as part of my multi-pronged effort.
-doug