We recently refi'd. House came in at 749k, Zillow came in at 732k. Zillow did not take into account a new deck and an expanded bathroom/redone basement, so I think all in all, it was pretty close.

My house is WAY over-appraised on Zillow. So it must be a neighborhood by neighborhood thing. Interesting that several have said their houses are undervalued by Zillow.

Zillow has our house at $35k below what it appraised for, and its a cheap house (low $200's) so $35k off is actually a lot.

Zillow is usually very inaccurate. For example, per Zillow, my home is 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1,744sf, and $316,883.00

In reality, my home recently appraised for $479,000, it is 7 bedroom, 3 bath, and is 4,450sf.

We just bought a house and it was way off and was going based on how much the seller paid a year ago (unexpected job transfer). It didn't account for the new deck, fence, appliances that they had put in. Also, the market has changed from a year ago and it didn't quite update based on that. We didn't overpay for our house- the appraisal came in over what we paid and we were well within comps so just use it as another form of info.

Zestimates are a good starting point but are only as accurate as the information on which they are based. Consider asking a Realtor to provide you with local comparable sales or have an informational appraisal done.

zillow uses regression analysis based on public info: lot size, sq ft, comps, zip code, etc.

Zillow does not know:
- is the kitchen updated?
- does the property have a good view
- landscaping
- build quality and materials
- structural or other problems

zestimate will always be an estimate. sometimes a very poor estimate. nothing more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our house recently appraised for around $70,000 higher than the Zestimate.

Was it in the range?

Just barely, like $1000 under the upper limit.

Anonymous wrote:Our house recently appraised for around $70,000 higher than the Zestimate.

Was it in the range?

Our house recently appraised for around $70,000 higher than the Zestimate.

Anonymous wrote:Search this forum for "zestimate" - there have been several threads on this. My opinion is that the zestimate is worth the money you paid for it.

You need to adjust and update the information.

They are a good tool that's give a range.

The more information you enter the more accurate.

Search this forum for "zestimate" - there have been several threads on this. My opinion is that the zestimate is worth the money you paid for it.

They are a good starting point, but dont' take account of differences in condition of homes, or markets that are rapidly changing. For example, my house is listed at a similar price to that next door (in terrible condition) and another house a few doors down which is very nicely renovated and larger than mine.

Another neighborhood house is listed as estimated for $585k and it just sold for $700k. It can be accurate and it can be way off.

My experience is that they get in the ballpark, but isn't really a "comp". They are useful to monitor trends, but not to set the price of a house.

How accurate are the Zillow, Redfin, etc etc home estimates for selling a house? Has anyone used these and then sold their home around the price suggested? Mostly just curious..