What Zillow users are saying to us

68 Comments so far

1. William Tygart on February 9, 2006 8:03 pm

   Fantastic site and though one of the homes that I looked up for my clients was grossly over valued on your search I am really amazed at what you folks have done. If this is what you have to offer in the BEGINNING, who knows how great this will be when you folks put in all of those ideas I know you are dreaming up.

2. Anonymous on February 9, 2006 8:15 pm

   I think that the combination of the idea behind FSBO Madison http://www.fsbomadison.com combined with the functionality of http://zillow.com, could do to Real Estate brokers, what Expedia did to Travel Agents. Take power and put it in the hands of normal people. We don’t need to pay 6% Real Estate commissions ever again! Zillow can change the way that real estate is bought and sold in the future.

   Here is a link to an interesting article in the New York Times,
   published Jan 3, 2006

   Title: Owners’ Web Site Gives Realtors Run for Money

   http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/03/realestate/03madison.html?ex=1293944400&en=ac5ca090376c79b7&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

   Why does it only costs $150 to list a house, in Madison, WI? Because they don’t need Real Estate brokers! Nobody does need them anymore! The secret is out. We are paying 6% for nothing.

3. Lynette Bishop on February 9, 2006 9:18 pm

   Your estimates are WAY OFF. As I Realtor I searched several homes that I have sold. One sold for $910,000 your value was $790,000/
   Another is in escrow at $3,500,000 your value was $1,800,000. If sellers rely on your esitmates, they will be losing $$$$!!!!

4. Anonymous on February 9, 2006 9:35 pm

   Lynette, you’re responding to a post that is acknowledging that many users’ valuations are off… so I think they already know that. If I were you I’d stop the panicked realtor shtik and start finding ways to make yourself (and keep yourself) useful.

5. glenn on February 9, 2006 10:47 pm

   Is there such a thing as a “useful” realtor?? I think not! Certainly not now. Thanks Zillow

6. Jamie on February 10, 2006 3:59 am

   To the realtor who posted earlier…make sure you are getting a “Zestimate” and not the “Tax Assessed Value” when you complain about the price differenced.

   That said, I’m a little confused as to why Zillow lists Washington DC as being an area where they have “most” information and high accuracy when every house in the area that I check has only the tax assessed value without a “zestimate”.

7. Emily on February 10, 2006 7:48 am

   I think this site is GREAT! My husband and I have a vested interest in what the real estate market is doing in our area since we may be moving in 2-5 years. It’s great to have someplace to start without the hassle of consulting a professional. Our Zestimate seems a little wild (41% growth in 2-1/2 years) but we live in a high growth area so it’s not completely out of left field. Thank you for creating such a wonderful resource!

8. Emily on February 10, 2006 7:48 am

   I think this site is GREAT! My husband and I have a vested interest in what the real estate market is doing in our area since we may be moving in 2-5 years. It’s great to have someplace to start without the hassle of consulting a professional. Our Zestimate seems a little wild (41% growth in 2-1/2 years) but we live in a high growth area so it’s not completely out of left field. Thank you for creating such a wonderful resource!

9. Tony on February 10, 2006 8:24 am

   “Paying 6% for nothing”? That’s not exactly true.

   What Do Realtors do?

   In the volatile home-buying market, Realtors can serve as “police,” offering their clients security, safety, and peace of mind. One of the Broker’s most important functions is escorting your purchase contract through the entire process, constantly patrolling the component transactions for possible breakdowns. A professional real estate broker can wade through the mountains of housing data, researching current market conditions to find the most accurate and up-to-date information about cost-effective purchase options.

   Brokers handle the Details!

   There are literally thousands of variables that can affect the outcome of your purchase transaction. That’s why you need a Realtor to act as liaison between the title and escrow company, mortgage broker, lender, appraiser, home inspector, attorneys, and any other services which may effect your transaction.

   But if you’re comfortable handling all of this yourself . . .

10. Katherine Adkins on February 10, 2006 8:54 am

    Yes there are thousands of variable to affect the price of selling a home. However, who is to say that a realtor, who is one person, is going to be right either. Zillow is helping make the everyday citizen know information that realtors give them. The numbers are not always exact, but neither are realtors all the time. I have researched many homes, and realtors always want you to work with them to help sell a home. The only thing that a realtor can do that an individual can not is look up comparable sales.

    Many site list homes that are for sale, but none have homes that have sold. Realtors in the past have been the only ones that have access to this information, but not now. Many side aspects (title and Escrow Company, mortgage broker, lender, appraiser, home inspector, and attorneys) that a realtor deals with have set procedures that they follow. Anyone can learn about the procedure and do it themselves.

    It is not worth 6% all the time. It might worth some fee to help, but not 6%. People who spend their time and money to fix a home should not have to give someone else part of their hard earned profit. Zillow is helping aid people to start making selling a home the way it should be.

11. Robert on February 10, 2006 11:39 am

    This is a complete joke. The “what it is worth” values are COMPLETELY wrong. Add a bedroom, and the value goes DOWN. Subtract a bedroom and bring down the interior space, and the value goes UP 200000.

    Any potential For Sale By Owner who uses this to price their home will be laughed at and HARD. They will look like complete idiots to the potential buyers.

12. Matt on February 10, 2006 1:22 pm

    I put my house into Zillow and it estimated it at $1.5 Million. And, 70% of the houses in my zip code were listed at even more than that. Seems to be a bit off since we purchased our house last year for $170,000 and most of the houses in my neigborhood are in the $200,000 range (zip code 84065). I am thinking they are off by a decimal point on some of their data causing prices to be inflated by 10X for my neighborhood. I do love the features and the look and feel of the site though if they could nail down the data and calculations.

13. Andrew R. on February 10, 2006 1:58 pm

    Zillow.com is a great site that answers the most popular question of many homeowners — “What is my house worth?”.

    Your site has put together a novel idea and after reading many other news items about your site, you can take it one step further. You could allow those homeowners (and realtors for that matter) the ability to market their homes on Zillow.

    I own VirtualHousehunter.com and see that the feel of Zillow is very similar. Why not join up together as one service, since both have already been created?

    Anyhow, this is the makings of a great site!

    - Andrew R

14. Amanda Hoffman on February 10, 2006 2:09 pm

    Amanda from Zillow here.

    To answer Jamie’s question about the DC area, you’ll notice we list the following metropolitan statistical area with good information:

    Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV

    This includes the cities of Washington, Baltimore and outlying areas in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. In aggregate, this area has good data and accurate Zestimates. However the District of Columbia does not report historical transactions, thus at this time in the beta version we are not able to calculate a Zestimate in this area. If you scroll down the list of states/counties, you’ll notice that “District of Columbia” by itself has one star and no Zestimates.

    Hope that clears things up.

    Amanda Hoffman

15. Greg on February 10, 2006 7:19 pm

    I’m pretty good at basketball. It’s not that hard to play, really. You dribble a ball and shoot it up into a basket. That doesn’t mean I can play in the NBA. Anyone can sell their own home. It is simple. But utilizing the right Realtor makes a world of difference. I am a real estate broker and in 2004 I listed over 40 homes that had been “For Sale By Owner” for months before listing with me. These were good, intelligent people who struggled to sell their home for what it was worth to them. The difference is not that I sell homes. The owners sell the home. I market homes and facilitate the process so that my clients can sell FOR MORE and without the stress and anxiety that inherently come with selling a home and moving.

    Thousands of people visit my site (www.saltlakecityforsale.com) every day and search for homes. There is no need to enter any personal information or give me anything in return. My site has every listed property, and some unrepresented sellers as well, and it has all the virtual tours posted on the MLS by Realtors. Buyers can search for homes, find out their payment information, see aerial views of the homes, get addresses and all the vital information about the homes without ever contacting me for help. Yet, many do contact me to get help finding their home. Many times after searching for months on their own.

    There is a difference between information and knowledge. Zillow will help everyone get more information and that is good, but it does not take the place of a Realtor who has area knowledge and can market a home to the broadest audience, tell their clients about upcoming legislation that may impact their decision or share past experiences of their clients in an area. A website will not be able to help you feel the inside of a home and see the actual view out the master bedroom window. All Realtors are not alike, just like all landscapers or architects or attorneys or anyone else is. When it comes to personal services, sometimes you really do get what you pay for. I was with the first company to ever sell a home online (Prudential California Realty), but the buyer still had an inspection period to walk through the home and see it and feel it and do inspections before finalizing the deal.

    Buying a home is nothing like buying an airline ticket. There are hundreds of factors that make a house a home and there are dozens of responsibilities a GOOD Realtor takes care of, from coordinating inspections and appraisals, to assisting parents enroll their kids in the school that has the best PTA and math department.

    Nationally about 90% of homes are sold with representation and the 10% of people who do not have representation go to court more than the 90% that do. Zillow won’t change that by giving a “Zestimate”.

16. Liz McCarthy on February 10, 2006 9:27 pm

    Wow, what a great site! I’m a Northernal Calif Real Estate Broker (and an ex-software busienss development executive). I use technology all the time to promote myself and my skill set to my clients, and I would LOVE to incoroporate your data into my website. I see that you may offer services to Real Estate professionals in the future. I would be interested ASAP (a beta customer? - due to my tech skills I would be a great asset to Zillow to help develop a realtor product) Thank you again for the great site.

17. Anonymous on February 10, 2006 10:27 pm

    Viva Revolution!

    BEWARE YOU REAL ESTATE DINOSAURS, the ICE AGE is COMMING and the DINOSAURS are going to DIE…

    It is now time for a free-market real estate revolution against the traditional multiple listing service controlled by real estate agents.

    Zillow is a great step in the right direction, and is one step closer to making real estate more competitive and to bringing down excessively high 6% sales commissions that are no longer deserved in today’s market.

18. John on February 10, 2006 11:30 pm

    Your supporters seem to think that you want to put Realtors out of business. Will Zillow pay their legal bills when they are sued for big bucks for their own errors and omissions in FSBO transactions? I think not.

19. Anonymous on February 10, 2006 11:46 pm

    To the person who wrote “Anyone can learn about the procedure and do it themselves,” HA HA HAAA. Give it a try. You’ll have taken on a second job; hope you have time for it. Will you be home all day to make your property available for showings, since there will be no lock box on the door for those “eeevil” Realtors? You’d better be. Will you be available all day at your regular job to take calls (if you get any) from somebody who sees your sign and wants to discuss the property in depth? Hope you’re the boss, or you won’t be. But, hey, give it a shot.

20. Jordan on February 11, 2006 11:40 am

    Dear Zillow,

    I tried your new site to appraise a multi-family house in New York City. I paid $1.1MM for this house six years ago. Your appraisal shows the house appraising at between $1MM and $1.1MM six years later. I have recently had a professional appraisal for $3.5MM. No house has sold in my neighborhood for under $2MM in years.

    Good luck and keep trying.

    Regards

21. Robert E. Walker on February 11, 2006 1:32 pm

    great site, what are your advertising rates? when will stock go on sale?

22. 3cents on February 11, 2006 4:23 pm

    Follow up to MAtt & further Zobservations:

    Yes, Zillow appeals to those who want to know what their house (or their neighbor’s house) is worth. But this is not what the industry NEEDS. Valuation has always existed via broker CMA, appraisal (the banks like that one), public records that give “market value” or way to calculate same from “assessed value”, electronicappraiser.com etc.
    Whether you have an appraisal, CMA, Zestimate or local psychic report, it doesn’t mean you get to buy or sell a house for the asking price. There are so many MAJOR variables including comparable houses on the market.
    Supply and demand determines VALUE. (you’d think with $32 mil you could afford an economist to tell you this). So, if you believe this economic theory, then in an up market the Z is worthless and in a down market the Z is equally worthless. So that leaves the Z valuable only in a stable market (what’s that look like) for a cookie-cutter house (I may have seen some of these).
    Just becasue you can create an Expedia doesn’t mean you know what’s needed in the real estate industry. It’s not a flashy abacus.
    I would rather have an engineer’s report, home inspection report, termite report, water, radon report and and a DAMN GOOD BROKER. Look for my new company Xonker (named after willie wonker) . We are in stealth mode and will come out when we feel good and ready to

23. 3cents on February 11, 2006 4:40 pm

    The Kelley Blue Book Fallacy

    A vice-presidential candidate said it best: “I’ve seen Kelley Blue Book and you, Zillow, are no Kelley Blue Book.”

    Houses are not cars.

    Zillow’s comparison to Kelley Blue Book is a clever marketing pitch but seriously flawed. I’m calling him on this one.

    1. Cars don’t change much in components–when was the last time you added a granite dashboard to your Taurus?
    2. Car values are very much tied to mileage because engines have a “useful life”. How do you measure mileage of a house–age? no good. Houses don’t have “useful lives” .
    3. Over time, cars are “depreciating assets” and real estate is an ‘appreciating asset”.

    4. Supply and demand determines house value but not car value (except exotics & antiques)- cars so not experience up markets and down markets.

24. Bob Dennison on February 12, 2006 8:07 am

    I own property in Montreal and I am trying to get an idea what it’s worth…does Zillow have a Canadian link (or is there a plan to establish one???)

25. 3 cents on February 12, 2006 9:15 am

    to Bob

    Dear Bob: An experienced local broker is the expert you need. Zillow is a machine calculation and a broker calculates using a much better machine–a BRAIN.
    don’t fall for the hype. tho’ it’s easy to push a button, in real estate easy is not better. If you embrace the Z you become its prisoner.

26. Anonymous on February 12, 2006 9:45 am

    I basically like the site except that I am wondering how yo get the info as some in my neighborhood (where I know the facts) do not have all accurate information such as a/c etc.

27. Anonymous on February 12, 2006 9:46 am

    I basically like the site except that I am wondering how yo get the info as some in my neighborhood (where I know the facts) do not have all accurate information such as a/c etc.

28. Jason on February 12, 2006 12:22 pm

    It sure looks like there are a lot of real estate people employing scare tactics because they fear Zillow will hurt their business. Good real estate agents and brokers have nothing to fear from Zillow. Bad real estate agents do have something to fear, however. Real estate agents should be hired for the services that they provide - not because they have access to information that consumers do not have. Zillow will hopefully eliminate the monopoly on comparable sales information, leaving only attention, customer service, and experience as the selling points for professional real estate agents - as it should be. If you rely on an information monopoly to stay in business, you really shouldn’t be in business at all.

29. Truth Seeker on February 12, 2006 1:10 pm

    This is a useful tool and it could help to reduce lender pressure on appraisers to come in at a value required to “make the deal work”. Under Title XI of FIRREA, lenders are required to obtain appraisals for federal transactions, (those that are $250,000 and higher) so Zillow can’t put appraisers out of business without an act of congress. As long as zillow doesnt systematically overvalue properties, it is a good source for a reality check on a home’s value. I would suggest more information be given regarding the accuracy of EACH value. For example, it would be nice to display the value with a confidence level based on the standard deviation of that value). Overall, it’s a great concept and appraisers and realtors should open their minds, learn more about this AVM and consider how it can be used to their advantage.

30. Mark James on February 12, 2006 4:47 pm

    I agree that zzillow.com is the best site out there for both buyers and sellers. I think in no time realtors will use it as a regular tool in their business. Congratulations for a great site.

31. johnm on February 13, 2006 2:46 am

    I would suggest more accuracy in your zestimate; fine tune your software/algorithms that picks the comps if it is possible to do.
    I looked up my zestimate for my home and it was listed at 305,000 what a joke!!
    You guys are off by about 50%; below the market value and also you don’t even have correct info such as number of bedrooms?
    Your comps are also not really comps but a haphazard list of homes with similiar square footage/closest proximity/a list from almost 12 months back in a rapidly appreciating market; you have a seriously lagging price indicator.
    My home was bought brand new and at the time there weren’t comps/ most homes in this area were built 40-100 years back so it’s hard to find comps; and not enough comparables most comparables are brand new construction starting in the 400,000 range; your zestimate is comparing apples to oranges when picking comps; which really can skew the results in the wrong way; I guess if a computer had a brain it would be able to decipher/ rate the relativity between different comps/ throw out certain comps; and assign a ranking list of relative comps/real comps.
    Be more selective and fine tune/ when picking comps. That would really help your zestimate accuracy.

32. Stacy Berger on February 13, 2006 9:40 am

    Although your information for my area (Lake Erie shoreline, Ohio) is still verry sketchy and wayy off .. some of the information available from sources “on the ground” is also at times sketchy, off the $$ mark, subjective and subject to the source’s quirks. Your site has great PO-tential! PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU’RE READY TO GO PUBLIC!!

33. Amy Bohutinsky on February 13, 2006 1:28 pm

    Hi, Amy from Zillow here. In response to Matt’s question about his neighborhood in Utah: Matt, we have a known issue in your locality that affects the accuracy of Zestimates we are showing. We are switching to showing just tax assessments in your area this evening until we fix this issue. We anticipate the Zestimate fix will take a few weeks. Please check back and let us know what you think once we’ve reinstated Zestimates for your area. Meanwhile thanks for your feedback and helping us make Zillow.com better.

34. h on February 13, 2006 5:11 pm

    I have a background in statistics, I worked a successful internet startup that featured algorithmically-based information, and I’m now a commercial real estate appraiser. I think I’m uniquely qualified to comment on this site. First, I understand the need to get out the word and produce “beta” software, it’s a necessary evil of the business (i.e. let your customers test it). Even Google wasn’t perfect the first day. That being said, this site, while it has potential, is FAR from ready for public consumption.

    This is a classic case of “garbage in, garbage out.” Public records data is notoriously incorrect. Daily I see incorrect sales prices, square footage, room counts, etc. If a sale price is $500,000 instead of $600,000, how is a value based on that information going to be correct? How does public records account for view, topography (usable land), quality, condition? I understand MyZestimator is designed to handle that, but most people only know about their own house, they don’t know about the comps. Presumably the comps sold with these factors built into the price, but the reality is that it’s not always that way. Quick example: a house sold on my street at slightly below asking price, the subsequent owner then tore it down…was the price the value of the land? Who knows without asking the motive. What about reductions for repairs made during escrow? There’s so much that this doesn’t take into account. Further, MyZestimator has a major bug, increase room count and the value plunges. I can’t yet figure that one out.

    I admire your site for trying to figure this out and I actually hope it does eventually provide a service. To those that think my complaints above are job security, that’s the furthest thing from my concern. I would just want to see more accurate results.

35. 3 cents on February 13, 2006 6:41 pm

    to Jason

    bad brokers not only have nothing to fear, they should be rejoicing over Z because now they can just pull out the Zestimate to convince a prospective client that they really know what they’re doing. This tool will add more bad (and lazy)brokers to the industry.

36. Joe Kamenar on February 15, 2006 9:38 am

    I entered three address of properties that just had been appraised in the last few months. In all three cases, the Zillow values were short by as much as 40%! For example, if you look at 2717 Dudley Ct, Bensalem PA 19010, you get a value of around $160K. Not only did the house appraise for $236K in December, it was sold for $219K. My house is undervalued by over $80K from an appraisal done in October of last year.

    I’m not sure of the value of a site (excellent design and UI) when the estimates are not even close. Why are these values way off?

37. Tulkinghorn on February 15, 2006 2:34 pm

    Outstanding site. Very useful, as long as the user is reasonable about what they expect for it.

    Where properties reviewed are within a couple standard deviations of the mean value for a town/neighborhood, I would expect them to be fairly useful.

    Where there is relatively little price volatility, the Zestimates will be fairly reliable.

    So, in those situations where an educated consumer does not really need a broker, it gives the consumer the information he needs.

    Don’t forget, hire a lawyer *early* in the process, and you will limit the need for a broker by 80%.

38. Chris Smith on February 17, 2006 8:40 am

    Great Site. Will be a useful tool when value estimates get better. Estimates are 25-35% low for my market, Spokane, WA

39. Bret on February 17, 2006 7:00 pm

    I have a dream that one day Zillow will have a mobile, paired down site that will work on my Treo. So I can drive by 123 Anywhere Lane and say,…Hmmm that house is worth yadayada dollars at the drop of a hat. btw Zillow was dead on for my 1959 rancher home estimate in Allentown, Pa

40. 3cents on February 18, 2006 1:00 am

    Brett
    Is this what you really want?
    Do you realize that if you accept the Zestimate as ‘accurate” you will have to live with YOUR home’s zestimate price tag. If it’s less than you think the market value is, good luck convincing the others who have full faith in it too. Your house might as well have a big red “Z” painted across it.

41. Steve Oshins on February 18, 2006 5:15 pm

    Good work, Zillow! This is the most amazing creation to ever come out in the real estate industry. I see that alot of people are finding errors in values, so clearly some major modifications need to be made to get through the growing pains. But the values seem to be pretty accurate for most of my properties and some others I looked up for other people. If I could critique the site in any way, I would note that it doesn’t seem to be as updated as it should be. I see some lots where a home was built in the past year or so, yet the value seems to be based on the land value only. There are a few things wrong with the data on my house, but the Zestimator was very helpful. I predict that this site will be used by 90%+ of buyers and sellers once the bugs are worked out. The key at this point is for people to use it as a tool only, and to check out recent sales to see if Zillow seems accurate. If it’s not, then just don’t use it. I also noticed that in many parts of the country the data is so lacking that the assessor’s tax value is used. Rather than using that, which will confuse a person who is not sophisticated, it may be better to simply not give a figure and give an “Insufficient Data” notation.

42. Jerry Hendriks on February 19, 2006 9:22 pm

    Greetings from Canada! As a Realtor, I find the site very interesting. I have no problem with people being able to check out what their home’s value might be or even trying to give it a shot and trying to sell their home privately for that matter. Some are successful although many are not. I will be the first one to congratulate them if they are successful and will also be ready to be of service if things don’t go the way they had hoped. Most people see the value in hiring a full time professional though and would rather not go through the many challenges of trying it on their own. It is unfortunate that it appears that the values are so far off in many cases as people have stated. The thing I find interesting and kind of funny is that the site is suppposed to help people figure out what their home is worth because they don’t know its value and maybe are not ready to call in a realtor to help them out. But as soon as they see the value that is calculated, they sure seem to know how much it is off by. What I am saying is that a home owner’s general knowledge of the real estate market seems to be more accurate than what any Zillow estimate will tell them. I think people generally have a closer connection to their neighbourhoods and what houses are selling for in their area than a computer program will ever be able to help them with. It’s a decent try but the human touch and personal knowledge for specific value adjustments will be very difficult to duplicate by any machine calculated value that can’t see and feel a particular home, it’s specific improvements, and it’s natural amenities and compare those features to others. A basic square footage, number of bedrooms and baths for example is rarely enough information to reflect an accurate value estimate. Houses are not your typical commodity either and that is why it is extremely difficult to compare selling books, flowers ,or plane tickets online to selling or evaluating houses online.The other problem is that any transaction needs both a willing buyer and a willing seller - just because you come up with a value because a computer said it was worth so much doesn’t mean a buyer will see it the same way. You need to bridge the gap in order to achieve a successful completion of a transaction. Professional Realtors don’t really sell houses. We are called upon in many cases to share our knowledge and experience, to guide, to advise, to evaluate, to facilitate, to represent, to market, to negotiate, and to help keep the home buying and selling process running as smoothly as possible. It’s been my pleasure to have had the opportunity to do so for more than 17 years and I am confident that professional Realtors who always put their clients best interests first will continue to have a very strong presence in the real estate market alongside great online experiences. And as Realtors, it is our responsibility to work hard to consistently exceed our client’s expectations as our value will continue to be reflected by the value we bring to the marketplace. Best regards from the Hendriks Team at RE/MAX Garden City Realty Inc. in St. Catharines - Niagara, Ontario, Canada. http://www.NiagaraHomes.com

43. Vijay Desai on February 20, 2006 5:50 pm

    So my house in Tenneessee is worth $17/ sq. ft. Forget about the 50% accuracy for Tenneessee. Not even close.

    Around here, the taxable value you are using is a percent of market value for tax bills. So it is grossly understated.

    I am looking forward to improvement though. By the way, looking at my house, the satellite pictures are a little old. But it is better than Google Earth. So I have enjoyed playing with it. Keep it up.

44. Greg on February 20, 2006 8:59 pm

    So now we can look up the value of our home?!? Wow- that really is new. Like we haven’t been able to get that information on a million other sites or call any real estate agent and get a free (and accurate) value for decades?

    Maybe next they can revolutionize the restaurtant business by giving us over 60 Million recipes for entrees and desserts.

    Of course with this sort of accuracy people will be putting 14 cups of sugar in a batch of cookies and be yelling that they’re “Showing those Chef’s who’s got the power now!”

45. 3cents on February 22, 2006 11:38 pm

    I applaud Jerry Hendriks’ working brain. However, I take issue with the Zillow as a “tool” analogy. A shovel is a tool because it was designed for digging and it does dig. No one has to think about whether it will dig. No one has to compare it to anything else to see if it will dig. There are no doubts about it’s ability to dig. You will pay money to buy it because you can rely on it digging. As for Zillow, it’s ability is not predetermined to be accurate. It may dig, it may not. It depends. You will not pay for a Zestimate because you cannot rely on it–that’s why it’s FREE! Therefore, Zillow is not a tool. If it is, so is my weegee board or the monkey I use to throw darts at the WSJ stock page so I can pick winning stocks. Beware of a buzz word like tool, used by clever marketers to get you to buy—see also use of the term “kelley blue book”

46. 3cents on February 22, 2006 11:42 pm

    Apologies to Jerry Hendriks. it was Steve oSHINS WHO USED THE term “tool” incorrectly

47. fred klaus on February 24, 2006 1:22 pm

    The changes that occued in travel, are very similiar to those that could happen in real estate, but the difference is the that travel pricing was/is time specific and final prices are driven by the finite nature of the transaction. This time limit, sellers need to sell element is not present in a real estate transaction (those who can not sell now at thier price, or time frame may differ) is replaced by more and more varing elements. It is this set of variables that creates the valuation problems that your blog members hate, with a few tweaks these problems can be turned in to income and haters to payers. Please let me know if you want to here more.
    Fred Klaus

48. B.L. on February 25, 2006 8:50 am

    The concept behind Zillow is a good one, however, I’d hate to see people take it’s information as fact when it is far, far from that. My home’s “Zestimate” is over 30% less than it’s actual current value - the last thing I need when I sell this summer is a buyer saying “Zillow.com says it’s not worth that much”. Also, as a mortgage professional, I know the value of a great Realtor (and not all are great)! The average person just does not have enough understanding of the home buying process to handle it on his own, although I have seen experienced home buyers manage nicely with a good real estate attorney. As far as finding out what homes in your area have sold for - try reading the “Property Transfers” section of your newspaper, or simply go down to your local Town Hall or City Hall - all of that information is on record, and it’s public information - it’s where appraisers and title companies get their info…..I do it all the time.

49. Mary on February 25, 2006 12:36 pm

    Congratulations on your site. My area was pretty accurate, my son’s area in North Jersey still needs some work.
    I notice that some homes appear to be based on the tax assessment value which is considerably lower than the true market value in my son’s case. My area was pretty much on target.
    Real estate agents buy up a lot of retirement village homes in my area and then jack up the prices. Your site will tell the true story. I have read that even appraisers are pressured to overvalue homes to keep the prices up.
    As a parent of a daughter and her husband who are priced out of the home market in spite of good jobs and educations, this is a real eye opener.
    You will only get better. Thank you for your brilliant work and for helping a lot of young couples have a chance at home ownership.

50. HomePriceMaps on February 26, 2006 9:05 am

    i am not sure i would call http://www.HomePricemaps.com DATA PORN, i mean aren’t we helping the consumer make better informed decisions, thus not relying upon the realtor as much, or at least giving the consumer the ability to know when his realtor is screwing him over?

    since when is THAT PORN????????????????????

51. Anonymous on February 26, 2006 1:06 pm

    I agree with Fred Klaus and B.L.

    The danger with zillow is that the naive, the inexperienced, the gullible, the star struck ZZombies (brain snatched believers), the lazy (the Kelley Blue book analogy is for these people), the unknowing, will say : “hey, that Barton is a smart guy, he did expedia, he must know what he is talking about, the Zestimate MUST BE valuable. it’s just as good as KBB. I don’t need a broker. I’ll just use it to negotiate with the seller on my own” THIS IS THE PROBLEM.
    I do not think sellers will buy into the Z mystique AT ALL. (unless the Z comes in above their asking price)

    In Barton’s defense, the mytique was created by bloggers, newspapers and the like looking for a catchy story.
    PS: dear Mr. Barton: please retract your KBB analogy. It’s unfair to the people who don’t know any better.

52. Wrong tax assessment value on February 26, 2006 10:16 pm

    This site has the wrong tax assessment value, even though the correct tax assessment is available free on the Internet. I suggest that they keep the info their site update to date using free sources.

53. Nikki on February 27, 2006 11:26 am

    To all those complaining about “I sold/bought this house for XXXX and Zillow estimates it’s worth XXXX less”. Ever think you overpaid? This tool is to EDUCATE otherwise uneducated buyers–you think your agent will tell you that you’re overpaying for a house when you put in the offer? No way–and spare me the “A good agent will…”. An uneducated consumer drives up prices for the rest of us by not doing their research, as do bogus appraisals. Agents can pick and choose which comps to send buyers to validate the list price–Zillow lays it all out there. This information will go a long way in bringing down home values to where they should be in some metro areas. This info was never available to the general public before, and realtors, etc should be scared, particularly those who constantly overvalue their listings, as they’re still doing here. I’ll say that in my area (Baltimore), those homes that have been on the market for 6 months + are all worth considerably less on Zillow–small wonder they’re sitting. A home is valued by what someone will pay for it, not what a realtor thinks it’s worth, and this is a tool to enable the buyer to make the most informed decision.

54. It's the data! on February 28, 2006 8:05 am

    ZILLOW IS A TOOL. Yes, some of the Zestimates are off. Given that the data is only as good as public records and there are numerous uncertainties in the local market. However, if your here only for the “Zestimates”, your missing the point!!

    Data that used to take hours to collect poring through public databases, working up spread sheets, now takes moments. I did this for six months before zillow came along. Now, I can see that Joe Bob paid $40K more for his house than a comparable house three blocks down that sold less that 3 months ago. Basically, Joe Bob was an Idiot. And if the idiots keep driving up the prices, I will not buy, not right now.

    Real estate agents? Your time is ending. If your a buyer, ask a real estate agent if they will accept 6% of the difference of the asking price and the sold price, no, didn’t think so. There is NO agent out there with the buyers interest in mind. For $300 I can have my lawyer do all the paperwork that a agent will do. I’m doing all the “comparables” anyway. The comparables that the agent gave me were for newer and bigger homes, three neighborhoods over. Why not compare homes in the same neighborhood? Zillow does!

55. Anonymous on February 28, 2006 1:26 pm

    Very interesting site, lots of fun to fool around with, but like many other posters here, I find the Zestimates for my area (I live in Massachusetts) grossly inaccurate. There are too many intangibles in real estate to allow a computer program (albeit a sophisticated one like Zillow) to accurately estimate the value of any one particular property. Zillow has potential, no doubt, and is getting some great press, but I wouldn’t use this site to estimate the sales value of my house; and isn’t that what it’s meant to do?

56. HomePriceMaps on March 1, 2006 3:03 pm

    if your not happy the “Zestimates” Zillow gives you check out http://www.HomePriceMaps.com

    HomePriceMaps.com integrates Home Sale prices pulled from public data (and other sources) with the Google Maps Technology

57. Nancy on March 2, 2006 8:22 am

    Well, my crummy little repo with a ripped roof and cement flooring is priced zestimated at $310,000 - I bought it for $99,000 3 years ago and have done nothing to it! Even the tax info is wrong. The doublewide trailer in the lot next to me is valued at 278,000! At most with its 1/2 acre, it is worth $90,000. There have been a couple news squibs about how Zillow does not work in New Mexico. (We are non disclosure) - but goodness, it really doesn’t work in my neighborhood!

    If I could sell my house for 1/2 what Zillow zestimates, I’d be thrilled. Zillow is pretty cool, though—so much data! Interface is nice but needs help for New Mexico!

58. L. Waters on March 2, 2006 5:06 pm

    I like the site. Yes the values seemed a little low for my area but not far off. Tax assessments were not updated from 2004 to 2005. I am getting an appraisal this month and it will be interesting to see how far off the values are. Great site Zillow. Would like to know how often the values are updated…monthly?

59. Anonymous on March 3, 2006 8:33 am

    Did a little digging online at our local Registry of Deeds for sales within the past week and compared them to Zillow estimates (sorry, saying “Zestimates” is too weird):

    a house that sold for $370,000 was estimated by Zillow at $405,000;
    a house that sold for $487,500 was estimated by Zillow at $574,000;
    a house that sold for $455,200 was estimated by Zillow at $323,000;
    a house that sold for $435,000 was estimated by Zillow at $464,000.

    Based on the above, all the positive press that Zillow is getting is sounding a lot like the silicon snake oil we were sold in the 90s. Zillow’s got a lot of work to do.

60. Former agent on March 3, 2006 11:08 pm

    Is it me or does it seem the agents responses on this site are fear based and defensive while the consumer comments are logical and well thought out?

    Whether Zillow works or not it is a catalyst toward fee based (competitive) real estate sales. Finally.

61. Jerry Hendriks on March 10, 2006 9:29 pm

    You have to be kidding “former agent”. Most of what I have been reading from the public is about how off the estimates are on the zillow site. They already seem to know what their homes are worth so what is the point of the website. If you were selling your home and the Zillow estimate tells me you are overpriced by $100,000 are you going to sell it for the lower price? I highly doubt it. Inaccurate values only misguide and confuse people and reaffirm the value of a professional realtor.

62. Bill on March 12, 2006 8:31 pm

    I was browsing your site looking at the zestimates for various properties that we own and loved the info you provided. The values were “close”, but not perfect. I think that would be normal even if I listed them all today for sale. Various real estate agents would come up with various “comps”. Some would inflate them to try to get you to list with them. I’ve seen this before. The only gripe I have with the site is when I change one of my home to 4 B/R from 3 it lowers the values. Why is that?

63. Lakeside2000 on July 13, 2006 11:58 am

    Zillow needs to give Homeowners a way to correct the info it is posting!!!

    They have wrong sq footage on my house, plus they are not showing any upgrades since 1991 - - - we bought in 2000, made additions and remodelled - - - yet they show none of this and put our value prox $100,000 below where it should be today by relying on 1991 data.
    Anyone else having a similar problem?

64. Dan on September 28, 2006 7:15 pm

    The overall usability is very good but the value of homes are not accurate.

    For example, I saw a 40k difference in the reported value of 2 homes of similar size and style and these houses are next door to each other varied.

    It appears that houses that were sold recently have a more accurate value while houses that did not sell in a while are vary far off.

65. Lisa Holland on October 21, 2006 10:30 pm

    I’m still trying to understand how the exact same house as mine (same development, same model, same elevation, same sq. footage, even the same exterior color) is valued at over $112k more than my house. Both houses were completed in Feb 2002 and had the same original purchase price. My house, however, has had one owner whereas the other house has had two owners.

    Is that the reason? Is the other house somehow more valuable because the second owner paid $56k more than I paid for the exact same house? Or is it because my home’s roof is listed as shingle composition when it is, in fact, tile? (The other house, according to Zillow, has a tile roof.) Or a combination of the two: $56k for the sale and another $56k for the roof?

66. Donna Woods on May 25, 2008 10:55 am

    According to your estimates our home is going down in value at the rate of 2 or 3 thousand a week??our entire block of homes continue to hold their value,,,our victorian farmhouse is so pretty, and “corrections” should be to ALL homes on a block,,,you actually may be hurting the sale of homes due to the fact that online readers are very vunerable to information posted whether or not it is factual..I think you have a responsiblity to get it right…

67. Marie on May 27, 2008 1:26 pm

    I too have had wrong information posted about my home. If the price that Zillow estimates my home to be, then I’d be a fool not to sell for 200% what I paid for it 2 months ago!!!!!

68. mike mcc on May 28, 2008 4:37 pm

    Folks, don’t be in such a hurry to get your home upgrades and updates onto Zillow. Your County Assessors all can read, and will most certainly be using the Zillow information to update their own databases.

    I am against this new invasion of privacy, and really hope more of you start thinking about what you are giving away about yourselves and your home.