How much can you trust Zillow’s Zestimates?
If you’ve never heard of a Zestimate before, it’s an estimate of your home’s value that you can get on Zillow.com by providing a few details about your home. Our clients bring up their Zestimates all the time when discussing where to price their home for sale, but many of them don’t understand what a Zestimate really is.
The important thing to know about that value is that it is based on an algorithm that Zillow created to gather information and come up with a value based on that information.
But is it accurate? It all depends. There are quite a few elements that go into your home’s market value that Zillow simply can not measure with their algorithm.
One of these is location. If your home is in a cookie cutter neighborhood where all the homes more or less look the same, your Zestimate might be a bit more accurate than others. If you have a unique home or it’s in a rural area, your Zestimate is likely to be way off.
The algorithm also doesn’t take into account any upgrades or additions you may have made to your home while you were living there. Any remodeled bathrooms, kitchens, or basements won’t be taken into consideration when the Zestimate determines your home’s value. These types of things add a ton of value to homes, but Zillow does not measure them.
Remember, Zillow’s value proposition is not about having accurate data—it’s about reselling your information to third parties!
If you want a truly accurate calculation of your home’s value, we offer a custom valuation to all our clients who are thinking about selling their house. With this valuation, we will come out to your home, take into consideration its location and features, and come up with an exact value of what your home is worth in today’s market.
If you have any questions about home evaluations, or if you have a topic you’d like us to cover in one of these videos, give us a call or send us an email. The Dailey Group is here to help you and those you care about move with confidence.
