Humility is a fine, fine attribute and Zillow deserves compliments for being humble. I know I'm not perfect in my evaluations of property values and my subjective opinion always factors in. Zillow, to their credit, explains their process of price evaluation via algorithms and they admit the system isn't without flaws. What Is a Zestimate? My trust in Zillow as a responsible real estate partner is high because they acknowledge their weaknesses and give people an opportunity to improve the results.
Starting the process of buying or selling, looking at homes through the eyes of Zillow is a good idea. The more we know the more competent we are. Competency translates to confidence and we know the competent confident consumer is in a strong position to have favorable results.
Zillow is a good place to start sharpening skills to prepare for your real estate adventure.
Showing posts with label zillow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zillow. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Zillow Zestimates, A Good Starting Point
Informed people are happy people...provided the information is accurate. Real estate buyers have loads more information to process today and the value of that info is directly related to how much effort is put into the processing. Zillow.com is one source of the new information home owners and buyers are looking to for real estate values. I'm a fan of Zillow for it's value as a starting point in the real estate pricing conversation.
Zillow calls their value estimate a Zestimate. It's a number arrived at using automated software designed to be neutral and unbiased. The Zestimate may factor in too much information, such as too broad of an area crossing neighborhood and school district boundaries. On the other side Zillow may have considered too little information, such as overlooking location in a neighborhood, or improvements.
Zillow does a terrific job of cautioning the user of their site and disclosing their limitations on accuracy. For example, go to Zillow.com and scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on: Zestimate. Selecting Wisconsin, and then Dane County, I see they disclose that their data includes 165,400 property sales. They claim their Zestimate is within 5% of the sale price for 42.5% of the properties. However, they are within 20% on 84% of the properties. If your goal is to not overpay for a property or to not leave too much on the table when pricing to sell, you will want to fine tune that 20% in Dane County where ten and twenty percent can mean twenty and forty thousand dollars.
Realtors and appraisers who know the market area and know how to make adjustments for the differences of value between neighborhoods, streets, homes, and amenities can get the price zeroed in the way a telescope brings into focus the fine details.
This is Zillow's explanation (copied from their web site) of a Zestimate:
The Zestimate® (pronounced ZEST-ti-met, rhymes with estimate) home valuation is Zillow's estimated market value, computed using a proprietary formula. It is not an appraisal. It is a starting point in determining a home's value. The Zestimate is calculated from public and user submitted data; your real estate agent or appraiser physically inspects the home and takes special features, location, and market conditions into account. We encourage buyers, sellers, and homeowners to supplement Zillow's information by doing other research such as:
Zillow calls their value estimate a Zestimate. It's a number arrived at using automated software designed to be neutral and unbiased. The Zestimate may factor in too much information, such as too broad of an area crossing neighborhood and school district boundaries. On the other side Zillow may have considered too little information, such as overlooking location in a neighborhood, or improvements.
Zillow does a terrific job of cautioning the user of their site and disclosing their limitations on accuracy. For example, go to Zillow.com and scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on: Zestimate. Selecting Wisconsin, and then Dane County, I see they disclose that their data includes 165,400 property sales. They claim their Zestimate is within 5% of the sale price for 42.5% of the properties. However, they are within 20% on 84% of the properties. If your goal is to not overpay for a property or to not leave too much on the table when pricing to sell, you will want to fine tune that 20% in Dane County where ten and twenty percent can mean twenty and forty thousand dollars.
Realtors and appraisers who know the market area and know how to make adjustments for the differences of value between neighborhoods, streets, homes, and amenities can get the price zeroed in the way a telescope brings into focus the fine details.
This is Zillow's explanation (copied from their web site) of a Zestimate:
The Zestimate® (pronounced ZEST-ti-met, rhymes with estimate) home valuation is Zillow's estimated market value, computed using a proprietary formula. It is not an appraisal. It is a starting point in determining a home's value. The Zestimate is calculated from public and user submitted data; your real estate agent or appraiser physically inspects the home and takes special features, location, and market conditions into account. We encourage buyers, sellers, and homeowners to supplement Zillow's information by doing other research such as:
- Getting a comparative market analysis (CMA) from a real estate agent
- Getting an appraisal from a professional appraiser
- Visiting the house (whenever possible)
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Middleton is Destination of Choice
Middleton, Wisconsin is a hot destination for relocating home buyers today. Part of the drive is pent up demand of persons who moved to the area 12 or more months ago and rented before buying. Their time was well spent discovering and researching the market, schools, neighborhoods, housing stock, and commuter routes. These well prepared people are making offers from a place of knowledge and their offers are getting accepted. Times they are a changing.
The consumer of real estate services is a much sharper and cautious consumer in 2012. Home owners who know the reality of their situation (All markets are not buyer markets and home prices are not all down and out) are able to negotiate reasonable prices for their homes and purchase another home at a fair price and an unfair interest rate...if financing is even necessary. The relocating buyer comes to town well schooled in price points, but without the sharper eye of someone on the ground to guide them. We see over and over where well qualified buyers are losing out on their first choice home because they believe they have no competition; not a correct assumption in Middleton. People who are not otherwise motivated to move off the fence stack up until somebody gives them a reason to jump in. All it takes is one person to try to acquire a property at below fair market value and other ready, willing, and able folks will make offers in line with recent sales.
In the first 10 weeks of this year 61 homes in Middleton are showing on the SCWMLS as sold or pending. Forty one of those are over $250,000. It looks like the high demand is between $275,000 and $565,000.
To get a good look at homes selling in your neighborhood and homes offered for sale, use one of these sites:
Zillow, Trulia, Homes, or even Tom Meyer. Once you get the big picture, you are free to look to me to sharpen your view. It doesn't matter to me if you are staying, selling, or just looking to evaluate your current assessment. I'm a resource for anyone who wants to make a smart real estate related commitment.
The consumer of real estate services is a much sharper and cautious consumer in 2012. Home owners who know the reality of their situation (All markets are not buyer markets and home prices are not all down and out) are able to negotiate reasonable prices for their homes and purchase another home at a fair price and an unfair interest rate...if financing is even necessary. The relocating buyer comes to town well schooled in price points, but without the sharper eye of someone on the ground to guide them. We see over and over where well qualified buyers are losing out on their first choice home because they believe they have no competition; not a correct assumption in Middleton. People who are not otherwise motivated to move off the fence stack up until somebody gives them a reason to jump in. All it takes is one person to try to acquire a property at below fair market value and other ready, willing, and able folks will make offers in line with recent sales.
In the first 10 weeks of this year 61 homes in Middleton are showing on the SCWMLS as sold or pending. Forty one of those are over $250,000. It looks like the high demand is between $275,000 and $565,000.
To get a good look at homes selling in your neighborhood and homes offered for sale, use one of these sites:
Zillow, Trulia, Homes, or even Tom Meyer. Once you get the big picture, you are free to look to me to sharpen your view. It doesn't matter to me if you are staying, selling, or just looking to evaluate your current assessment. I'm a resource for anyone who wants to make a smart real estate related commitment.
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