Zillow. Its the go-to website for people interested in buying or selling a house to do their research. And why wouldn’t they use it? Its the most popular site for such data.
But is it accurate?
Ask any agent and most will tell you Zillow is not. It’s a strong statement loaded with truth.
But how?
Zestimates are inaccurate.
If you’re a seller wondering how much your property is going for, you’ll most likely consult with Zillow before trying to contact a real estate professional.
We tend to forget that a property’s worth is determined by how much a buyer is willing to pay and not by how much Zillow markets it for. For example, let’s say Zillow says your house is worth $800,000, but if many months pass and your property hasn’t sold, that’s probably because your property is marked too high.
Here’s the thing, Zillow bases their information on comparable sales. Zestimates stand for property value estimates. Zillow’s CEO, Spencer Rascoff, admitted that these Zestimates have a “median error rate” of about 8%. This is a high error rate! Let’s say a house was $500,000. Its disparity would be about $40,000, which is a lot of money for an error rate.
Stay tuned for Why Agents Don’t Trust Zillow and Neither Should You! -Part 2.