What is Zillow and How Can it Help You When You Buy or Sell a HomeYou drive by a home that you may be interested in, pull a flyer and look at the price. Is it priced right? How can you find out? A good place to start is Zillow.com. Simply type in the address and receive an estimated market price and a list of comparative sales. It's a free service with no need for a lengthy login process.
Accuracy?An independent source looked at 1,000 home sales and compared those prices with Zillow estimates and found the median price difference between actual sales and Zillow estimates to be 7.8% (A pretty good number). But when Zillow is bad it can be terrible, off by more than 25% in one in ten homes.
Insider's TipIf you are evaluating your own home and find some inaccuracies (i.e. Sq. footage, # of baths) you may correct them and get an updated value.
A Random Check
A home that I sold on 8347 Chadwick Dr., Knoxville, TN, 37909 in July of 07 had a Zillow estimate of $195,184. The actual sales price was $227,000. What Zillow did not account for was this being a one owner home that had been meticulously maintained. Their estimate here was 14% below the actual sales price.
How to Proceed
I recommend using the Zillow estimate as a starting point, but not the final word. If you are considering selling your home, call me for a no obligation market analysis to determine the price of your property.
(Compiled from an article by James R. Hagerty from The Wall Street Journal Online)
