Zillow shows "estimated net proceeds"

[Anonymous]

I'm sure the Zillow feature "estimated net proceeds" is not always accurate. It happens to be accurate for my house. If we sold right now (assuming we sold for what Zillow thinks it could sell for), we would have over $500,000 in estimated net proceeds. That's the house selling price, minus the amount still owed on the mortgage, the closing costs, and the "prep and repair" costs.

I am noticing a lot of houses in my area selling for $1 Million to maybe $2 Million dollars, with an estimated net proceeds of $100,000 or sometimes significantly less. To me, that is not very much money to walk away with/ put into a down payment on the next place. It suggests people selling because they can't afford to live there anymore, because it's almost all of the houses I've checked in our area (north of Baltimore).

Am I reading this wrong?

[Anonymous]

Where is this feature? I don't see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure the Zillow feature "estimated net proceeds" is not always accurate. It happens to be accurate for my house. If we sold right now (assuming we sold for what Zillow thinks it could sell for), we would have over $500,000 in estimated net proceeds. That's the house selling price, minus the amount still owed on the mortgage, the closing costs, and the "prep and repair" costs.

I am noticing a lot of houses in my area selling for $1 Million to maybe $2 Million dollars, with an estimated net proceeds of $100,000 or sometimes significantly less. To me, that is not very much money to walk away with/ put into a down payment on the next place. It suggests people selling because they can't afford to live there anymore, because it's almost all of the houses I've checked in our area (north of Baltimore).

Am I reading this wrong?

Are you looking at when the purchased the home? Obviously, if they bought it since like 2024, then it makes sense the net proceeds aren't going to be super high.

[Anonymous]

Zillow is guessing based on date of last sale, probably. In my case, it is very off because it's not accounting for the fact that I refinanced after divorce to buy my ex out.

[Anonymous]

I just did my house. It's best on when you bought plus classic mortgage, no refinance...They have no way to tell individual scenarios.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just did my house. It's best on when you bought plus classic mortgage, no refinance...They have no way to tell individual scenarios.

^^it's based on!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where is this feature? I don't see it.

I can only see it on a computer, not if I look at Zillow on my phone.

It'll show

Home Value

Estimated Net Proceeds

Comparable Homes (so, the section where they show sales for houses at about the same price point, near by and recently)

I assume they know what the outstanding mortgage still is. We also refi'd, around 2020, but zillow is correct about how much we still owe. And they're correct about what our home value is, based on similar homes in our neighborhood recent sales.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure the Zillow feature "estimated net proceeds" is not always accurate. It happens to be accurate for my house. If we sold right now (assuming we sold for what Zillow thinks it could sell for), we would have over $500,000 in estimated net proceeds. That's the house selling price, minus the amount still owed on the mortgage, the closing costs, and the "prep and repair" costs.

I am noticing a lot of houses in my area selling for $1 Million to maybe $2 Million dollars, with an estimated net proceeds of $100,000 or sometimes significantly less. To me, that is not very much money to walk away with/ put into a down payment on the next place. It suggests people selling because they can't afford to live there anymore, because it's almost all of the houses I've checked in our area (north of Baltimore).

Am I reading this wrong?

Are you looking at when the purchased the home? Obviously, if they bought it since like 2024, then it makes sense the net proceeds aren't going to be super high.

But if they bought it in 2024 and just sold it, that also suggests a fire sale.

[Anonymous]

You realize that most people do not move out of consideration for "net proceeds" ... right? People aren't necessarily selling because they "can't afford to live there." People move because they got a job in San Francisco, or because their aging parents need help back in Iowa, or because they are getting married to someone who is in Vermont, or they are retiring and heading to that hellhole of a state that is FL. Or whatever.

[Anonymous]

$74K in RE commissions to sell my house...nuts.

[Anonymous]

It's not quite right for my house but not too far off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You realize that most people do not move out of consideration for "net proceeds" ... right? People aren't necessarily selling because they "can't afford to live there." People move because they got a job in San Francisco, or because their aging parents need help back in Iowa, or because they are getting married to someone who is in Vermont, or they are retiring and heading to that hellhole of a state that is FL. Or whatever.

So most people are moving, not really getting any equity from their house sale, and urgently moving to be with their aging parents? Big old nope. Most people should have more than $100,000 equity from a million dollar house sale. If most people don’t, I take that as a bad economic indicator, which is my only point in bringing it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You realize that most people do not move out of consideration for "net proceeds" ... right? People aren't necessarily selling because they "can't afford to live there." People move because they got a job in San Francisco, or because their aging parents need help back in Iowa, or because they are getting married to someone who is in Vermont, or they are retiring and heading to that hellhole of a state that is FL. Or whatever.

So most people are moving, not really getting any equity from their house sale, and urgently moving to be with their aging parents? Big old nope. Most people should have more than $100,000 equity from a million dollar house sale. If most people don’t, I take that as a bad economic indicator, which is my only point in bringing it up.

"Most people," certainly those in the DMV selling "a million dollar house," are moving for reasons other than "can't afford to live there." This idea, based on random Zillow information, that there is some huge number of people in the DMV selling "million dollar" homes with less than 100k equity, is nonsense, much less "a bad economic indicator."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$74K in RE commissions to sell my house...nuts.

It's not "nuts," assuming your house is worth anything.

[Anonymous]

Ok, look at the houses between 1-2 million dollars which have sold near you. Or don’t. I’m just hypothesizing why I keep seeing this result near me.