Zestimates-Wrong-Inaccurate

Zestimates – Why They are Not Helpful

Why a Home Buyer should never use them

What is a Zestimate?

Zestimate

(Pronounced ZEST-ti-met) – Information is straight from the Zillow Website

The Zestimate® home value is Zillow’s estimated market value for an individual home and is calculated for about 100 million homes nationwide. It is a starting point in determining a home’s value and is not an official appraisal. The Zestimates are automatically computed daily based on millions of public and user-submitted data points.

Zestimates® 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, taking into account special features, location, and market conditions. 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)

Zillow also produces a Zestimate forecast, which is Zillow’s prediction of a home’s Zestimate one year from now, based on current home and market information. Learn more about the Zestimate forecast.

*For more information on Zestimates directly from Zillow, Click HERE

From: the Los Angeles Times
By: Kenneth R. Harney
Date: February 2015

When “CBS This Morning” co-host Norah O’Donnell asked the chief executive of Zillow recently about the accuracy of the website’s automated property value estimates — known as Zestimates — she touched on one of the most sensitive perception gaps in American real estate.

Zillow is the most popular online real estate information site, with 73 million unique visitors in December. Along with active listings of properties for sale, it also provides information on houses that are not on the market. You can enter the address or general location in a database of millions of homes and probably pull up key information — square footage, lot size, number of bedrooms and baths, photos, taxes — plus a Zestimate.

Shoppers, Sellers and Home Buyers routinely quote Zestimates to realty agents — and to one another — as gauges of market value. If a house for sale has a Zestimate of $350,000, a buyer might challenge the sellers’ list price of $425,000. Or a seller might demand to know from potential listing brokers why they say a property should sell for just $595,000 when Zillow has it at $685,000.

Disparities like these are daily occurrences and, in the words of one realty agent who posted on the industry blog ActiveRain, they are “the bane of my existence.” Consumers often take Zestimates “as gospel,” said Tim Freund, an agent with Dilbeck Real Estate in Westlake Village. If either the buyer or the seller won’t budge off Zillow’s estimated value, he told me, “that will kill a deal.”

Back to the question posed by O’Donnell: Are Zestimates accurate? And if they’re off the mark, how far off? Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff answered that they’re “a good starting point” but that nationwide Zestimates have a “median error rate” of about 8%.

Whoa. That sounds high. On a $500,000 house, that would be a $40,000 disparity — a lot of money on the table — and could create problems. But here’s something Rascoff was not asked about: Localized median error rates on Zestimates sometimes far exceed the national median, which raises the odds that sellers and buyers will have conflicts over pricing. Though it’s not prominently featured on the website, at the bottom of Zillow’s home page in small type is the word “Zestimates.” This section provides helpful background information along with valuation error rates by state and county — some of which are stunners.

For example, in New York County — Manhattan — the median valuation error rate is 19.9%. In Brooklyn, it’s 12.9%. In Somerset County, Md., the rate is an astounding 42%. In some rural counties in California, error rates range as high as 26%. In San Francisco it’s 11.6%. With a median home value of $1,000,800 in San Francisco, according to Zillow estimates as of December, a median error rate at this level translates into a price disparity of $116,093.

Some real estate agents have done their own studies of accuracy levels of Zillow in their local markets.

Last July, Robert Earl, an agent with Choice Homes Team in the Charlottesville, Va., area, examined selling prices and Zestimates of all 21 homes sold that month in the nearby community of Lake Monticello. On 17 sales Zillow overestimated values, including two houses that sold for 61% below the Zestimate.

In Carlsbad, Calif., Jeff Dowler, an agent with Solutions Real Estate, did a similar analysis on sales in two ZIP Codes. He found that Zestimates came in below the selling price 70% of the time, with disparities ranging as high as $70,000. In 25% of the sales, Zestimates were higher than the contract price. In 95% of the cases, he said, “Zestimates were wrong. That does not inspire a lot of confidence, at least not for me.” In a second ZIP Code, Dowler found that 100% of Zestimates were inaccurate and that disparities were as large as $190,000.

So what do you do now that you’ve got the scoop on Zestimate accuracy? Most important, take Rascoff’s advice: Look at them as no more than starting points in pricing discussions with the real authorities on local real estate values — Experienced Agents and Appraisers.

Zestimates are hardly gospel — often far from it.

Call the Martin Real Estate Team of Lake Norman if you are interesting in Buying or Listing Your Home in the Cornelius, NC Real Estate area or other around Lake Norman…or even if you are looking for more information on Lake Norman Real Estate Values.

704-900-1619

Lake Norman Waterfront Homes for Sale

Lake Norman homes

prev   Listings 21 - 40 of 271   next

15921 Sunset Drive -- 4 BR, 4.1 BA
Price: $3,900,000 (4850 sqft)
Subdivision: Sunset Cove
→ More info
Ivester Jackson | MLS # 4096432 | Active
18001 Whispering Oaks Drive -- 5 BR, 6.1 BA
Price: $3,750,000 (5527 sqft)
Subdivision: Point Largo
→ More info
Southern Charm Realty | MLS # 4109843 | Active
20218 Rainbow Circle -- 7 BR, 6 BA
Price: $3,700,000 (7895 sqft)
Subdivision: Biscayne Park
→ More info
Premier Sotheby's | MLS # 4082378 | Active
8451 Ridgewood Road -- 5 BR, 5.2 BA
Price: $3,500,000 (8867 sqft)
→ More info
Ivester Jackson | MLS # 4090670 | Active
8149 Deep Water Lane -- 6 BR, 6.1 BA
Price: $3,475,000 (7422 sqft)
Subdivision: Crescent Land and Timber
→ More info
Corcoran HM Properties | MLS # 4108791 | Active
15536 Fishermans Rest Court -- 6 BR, 6.1 BA
Price: $3,295,000 (6346 sqft)
Subdivision: The Peninsula
→ More info
Ivester Jackson | MLS # 4100663 | Active
18612 Balmore Pines Lane -- 4 BR, 4 BA
Price: $3,100,000 (4681 sqft)
Subdivision: The Peninsula
→ More info
Select Premium | MLS # 4084277 | Active
109 Raspberry Lane -- 2 BR, 2 BA
Price: $2,999,500 (1800 sqft)
→ More info
Lake Norman Realty, | MLS # 4093219 | Active
183 Crystal Circle -- 3 BR, 6 BA
Price: $2,999,000 (7041 sqft)
Subdivision: Crystal Bay
→ More info
Michael Sullivan | MLS # 4019965 | Active
22350 Country Club Lane -- 3 BR, 2 BA
Price: $2,950,000 (2092 sqft)
Subdivision: Country Club Shores
→ More info
Helen Adams Realty | MLS # 4097714 | Active
800 Lakeview Shores Loop -- 6 BR, 5.1 BA
Price: $2,875,000 (5224 sqft)
→ More info
Realty Dynamics Inc. | MLS # 4108441 | Active
122 Stone Point Court -- 4 BR, 3.1 BA
Price: $2,850,000 (5042 sqft)
Subdivision: Stonemarker Pointe
→ More info
EXP Realty LLC | MLS # 4100351 | Active
160 Elysian Drive -- 4 BR, 3.1 BA
Price: $2,850,000 (4151 sqft)
Subdivision: Mooreland Estates
→ More info
Trump International | MLS # 4112954 | Active
172 Balmoral Drive -- 4 BR, 5.1 BA
Price: $2,699,000 (4222 sqft)
→ More info
Ivester Jackson | MLS # 4121770 | Active
18901 Peninsula Club Drive -- 5 BR, 4.2 BA
Price: $2,600,000 (6460 sqft)
Subdivision: The Peninsula
→ More info
NorthGroup Real | MLS # 4079386 | Active
8303 Luckey Point Road -- 3 BR, 2 BA
Price: $2,550,000 (1456 sqft)
Subdivision: Luckey Point
→ More info
Maultsby Realty Group | MLS # 4119855 | Active
152 Polpis Road -- 5 BR, 4.2 BA
Price: $2,500,000 (6513 sqft)
Subdivision: The Point
→ More info
TMR Realty, Inc. | MLS # 4107207 | Active
2593 Las Brisas Lane -- 4 BR, 3.1 BA
Price: $2,500,000 (3620 sqft)
Subdivision: Lantana Village
→ More info
Ivester Jackson | MLS # 4113722 | Active
17813 Spinnakers Reach Drive -- 5 BR, 4.1 BA
Price: $2,500,000 (6154 sqft)
Subdivision: The Peninsula
→ More info
Keller Williams Lake | MLS # 4065480 | Active
4018 Spindrift Cove Drive -- 5 BR, 5.1 BA
Price: $2,495,000 (8761 sqft)
Subdivision: Norman Pointe
→ More info
Corcoran HM Properties | MLS # 4120995 | Active

prev   Listings 21 - 40 of 271   next

Lake Norman Waterfront Condos for Sale

Lake Norman condos

prev   Listings 21 - 40 of 59   next

18824 Nautical Drive -- 2 BR, 2 BA
Price: $435,000 (1097 sqft)
Subdivision: Admirals Quarters
→ More info
Berkshire Hathaway | MLS # 4119371 | Active
109 Isleworth Avenue -- 3 BR, 2.1 BA
Price: $431,854 (1909 sqft)
Complex: Forest Lake
→ More info
TRI Pointe Homes INC | MLS # 4103715 | Active
18520 Mizzenmast Avenue -- 3 BR, 2.1 BA
Price: $430,000 (1698 sqft)
Subdivision: Harborside Townhomes
→ More info
Allen Tate Lake Norman | MLS # 4102035 | Active
120 Glencoe Lane -- 3 BR, 2.1 BA
Price: $429,000 (2272 sqft)
Subdivision: Carriage Club Townhomes
→ More info
Pilot Realty & | MLS # 4114926 | Active
109 Forest Lake Boulevard -- 3 BR, 2.1 BA
Price: $425,659 (1909 sqft)
Complex: Forest Lake
→ More info
TRI Pointe Homes INC | MLS # 4101172 | Active
18807 Vineyard Point Lane -- 2 BR, 2 BA
Price: $425,000 (799 sqft)
Complex: Dockside
→ More info
SERHANT | MLS # 4115011 | Active
8624 Sonata Court -- 2 BR, 2 BA
Price: $415,000 (1810 sqft)
Subdivision: Cherry Way
→ More info
ERA Live Moore | MLS # 4069670 | Active
18861 Vineyard Point Lane -- 2 BR, 2 BA
Price: $410,000 (782 sqft)
Subdivision: Vineyard Point
→ More info
NextHome Choice Realty | MLS # 4089228 | Active
113 Clarendon Street -- 3 BR, 2.1 BA
Price: $407,000 (1988 sqft)
Complex: Cove at Morrison Plantation
→ More info
Century 21 Lawrie | MLS # 4123071 | Active
1262 Brawley School Road -- 3 BR, 2.1 BA
Price: $399,990 (1720 sqft)
Complex: Forest Lake
→ More info
TRI Pointe Homes INC | MLS # 4119390 | Active
109 Forest Lake Boulevard -- 3 BR, 2.1 BA
Price: $398,397 (1810 sqft)
Complex: Forest Lake
→ More info
TRI Pointe Homes INC | MLS # 4101167 | Active
131 Forest Lake Boulevard -- 3 BR, 2.1 BA
Price: $397,095 (1909 sqft)
Complex: Forest Lake
→ More info
TRI Pointe Homes INC | MLS # 4060260 | Active
4164 Steel Way -- 4 BR, 3 BA
Price: $390,245 (2570 sqft)
Complex: Blackstone Bay
→ More info
DR Horton Inc | MLS # 4103847 | Active
7874 Iron Road -- 4 BR, 2.1 BA
Price: $387,855 (2395 sqft)
Complex: Blackstone Bay
→ More info
DR Horton Inc | MLS # 4091250 | Active
7882 Iron Road -- 4 BR, 2.1 BA
Price: $387,855 (2395 sqft)
Complex: Blackstone Bay
→ More info
DR Horton Inc | MLS # 4091244 | Active
109 Forest Lake Boulevard -- 3 BR, 2.1 BA
Price: $386,158 (1720 sqft)
Complex: Forest Lake
→ More info
TRI Pointe Homes INC | MLS # 4105343 | Active
4388 Bronze Boulevard -- 4 BR, 3 BA
Price: $383,045 (2570 sqft)
Complex: Blackstone Bay
→ More info
DR Horton Inc | MLS # 4118201 | Active
248 Welton Way -- 3 BR, 2.1 BA
Price: $382,500 (1380 sqft)
Subdivision: Morrison Plantation
→ More info
Allen Tate | MLS # 4118252 | Active
118 Berkeley Avenue -- 3 BR, 2.1 BA
Price: $382,088 (1720 sqft)
Complex: Forest Lake
→ More info
TRI Pointe Homes INC | MLS # 4080062 | Active
4386 Bronze Boulevard -- 4 BR, 2.1 BA
Price: $381,055 (2395 sqft)
Complex: Blackstone Bay
→ More info
DR Horton Inc | MLS # 4118045 | Active

prev   Listings 21 - 40 of 59   next