Do you look up the value of people's houses on Zillow?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I use Redfin.

Redfin is not accurate.

Neither is Zillow

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes.
Sometimes.

For instance, I work as a Nanny for a family who claims that they cannot afford to pay me the going rate.
They say that money is “tight,” yet they just bought a new house.
Their new house was very large + in an upscale area so out of curiosity I checked online to see how much they paid for the house.

Turns out - they paid $1M+ for it.

So I realize now that they are just cheap and an already looking for a new job. 😺

When I was in my mid-20s, I did side work as a pet sitter in northern VA. The people who haggled over my prices the most ALWAYS had the biggest houses. I remember a woman gave me a sob story about how money was tight so I gave her a massive discount.

I show up and she’s in a multi-million dollar house in McLean. Not only that, as soon as I showed up for the first visit, she said “so you’ll be staying at the house 24 hours a day, right?” I was like…no, you’re paying for 2 visits a day at an extremely discounted rate, and I have a job to go to. She gave me a terrible review because “we once hired a college girl who stayed there 24/7 at half the price!”

I was so satisfied a few months later when she called me with another sob story about how her husband was in the hospital and they needed a pet sitter….but with his medical bills couldn’t afford to pay. Had a LOT of fun hanging up on her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's one of the first things I do after finding out where someone lives. Sometimes I do things just to get the address. "Tell Sarah's mom we can bring her home from practice!"

Wow that’s… something. What do you use this information for? Do you try to build friendships with wealthier families?

Kind of the inverse. I try to avoid friendships with people without means. 1.1-1.2 million is a fine floor IMHO. Below that, things can get dicey and weird.

I'm the opposite, I avoid building friendships with people who are too wealthy. I don't like the, "you must come with us to Vail this winter" types of people. I hate trying to keep up. And through experience, have learned that I much prefer our DCs to hang out with "regular" UMC kids, who are grounded, have jobs etc. The ones with $200 weekly allowances, who get a new car for their birthday, and parent's pay for the teens booze and a beach week beach house are not a good fit. I know not all wealthy families are like that. And we have $$, but are more millionaire next door types, so you wouldn't know.

What would be the house value for “too wealthy” for you?

[Anonymous]

That’s creepy. But I do like r/zillowgonewild

[Anonymous]

Yes and I practically have the Fairfax co tax assessor website bookmarked. I was surprised a SAHM friend wasn't listed as a co-owner on her house.

[Anonymous]

I like looking at real estate but no, I don’t look up people I know. I look up houses and eventually, I just stop because I realize it can push me to feel dissatisfied with what I have since there’s always a nicer, more remodeled, closer-in house. Also, my mom always taught me to make better use of my time: work, read a book, learn a language / instrument/ skill. It sure sounds like some of you - like the person who has looked up the house of everyone in their kid’s class - has too much time on their hands.

[Anonymous]

I live in a town (CA) where 1300 sq ft 3 bedrooms are all $2 million and up. ($2 million gets you one bathroom.) So sometimes I’m curious when someone bought / how they can afford to do so.

We rent an apartment, but have about $3.5 million in savings. Sometimes I wonder when we’re at a fundraiser event (school, library etc) whether people who know we “only” live in an apartment are surprised we’re making the donations that we make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never. What am I going to do with that information? Absolutely nothing. I have better ways to spend my time.

+1. Also I don’t care enough about money and who has it to do this.

[Anonymous]

Not too often. I already know that my kid's friends live in lovely houses because of all the playdates he gets.
I looked up my parents-in-laws house in FL, because they did gofundme for a funeral. I never thought they needed money or that their principles would even allow it.

[Anonymous]

I do it often, I'm curious and also love seeing inside the homes and seeing their floor plans. It's not unusual for kids in my neighborhood to have to share a bedroom in an apartment worth over $1M. My kids do. My insecurities are relieved sometimes by seeing very rich families making the same sacrifices. Or once I learned that my DD's really down to earth and lovely friend lives in a 4 story brownstone worth nearly $10M. There is a wide range of housing types that I visit and it's always interesting to find out how someone lives and where the market is for a particular type of home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I use Redfin.

Redfin is not accurate.

Neither is Zillow. It's a gauge but it can't tell you if a property is an estate sale or fully updated turnkey.

[Anonymous]

No. I never have. It has never occurred to me.

But now that you bring it up I'm tempted to do so, lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes and I practically have the Fairfax co tax assessor website bookmarked. I was surprised a SAHM friend wasn't listed as a co-owner on her house.

Ok, this is fascinating. I have never snooped on people like this. It seems bad, but I have to look some people up now, lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Zillow will tell you how much they owe on the mortgage too. Only time I’ve been impressed was when I looked up an acquaintance and they bought the house for cash. I never would’ve known. Very under the radar.

What?! Where does Zillow report that?

Yeah, I didn't know this either and just looked up my own house and it was ... pretty accurate. Wild.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the time.

I've looked up the ownership data of pretty much every house in my neighborhood too. How much they paid, who is actually the owner, if it's in a trust, etc, is very interesting to me. I'm super nosy.

How do you do this? Do you have to go to the courthouse?