More homes and more options for buyers on Zillow

3 Comments so far

1. Adam on July 23, 2008 6:35 am

   I’m curious to see what the correlation is between number of buyers searching for home and number of homes listed for sale.

2. Amy B (from Zillow) on July 24, 2008 11:33 am

   Hi Adam, About 40% of Zillow users identify themselves as buyers currently or in the near future. In June, Zillow had 5.1 million unique visitors, so 2+ Million buyers.

3. Kathy on July 26, 2008 5:10 pm

   Has zillow recently changed from comparing houses within one neighborhood to comparing houses within an entire zip code instead? I ask this because I have been watching a neighborhood for quite some time where the homes sell for the low $100 thousands. All the houses in that neighborhood recently went up around $30,000 each according to zillow. I was shocked to see this, but realized on the right column that it was now comparing homes in this neighborhood to homes in other neighborhoods in the same zip code, which were newer, nicer neighborhoods. So, a home that was valued for the past 5 years around $90,000 to $100,000 just jumped up in value (according to zillow) to $130,000. There is definitely no way the home is worth that much, especially since a home just like it in the same neighborhood (in better condition) just sold for $105,000.

   Is it possible to get zillow to switch back to comparing houses only within the same neighborhood so that it would be more accurate?

   Here is an example of what I mean:

   The house that recently sold for $105,000 is at 7012 Carlton Dr. at zip code 27616. If you look at other houses in the same neighborhood you will see that zillow’s recent change has caused them all to “jump” in value compared to what they are worth in real life. On the right column “Recent comparable sales” it shows a home on Ashley Rd at $115,000. This home is in the same neighborhood. However, the homes on Whitlessea, Beaverwood, and Neuse Bend are not in the same neighborhood. Beaverwood has two sections - one is in a newer neighborhood, the other section of it is in a neighborhood that is 30 years older. The home that sold on Beaverwood is not in the same neighborhood as this house. Zillow used to separate the two neighborhoods and would never compare homes on the “new neighborhood” section of Beaverwood with the homes on the “old neighborhood” section of Beaverwood, which made sense because the “new neighborhood” has homes that sell for more money per square foot than the older neighborhood.

   I first noticed the big jump in home values in this neighborhood when it showed that a home at 3407 Massey Pond Trl sold for $280,000. That neighborhood is a newer, “more desirable” neighborhood, and I wondered why that home was suddenly compared with all of these. Then, I noticed that other neighborhoods in the same zip code started to be compared with homes in this neighborhood.

   Is there a reason why zillow made this change?

   Thank You!