How accurate is Zillow?

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PANDA_IHB

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Zillow.com is listing my townhome for $404,500 and my purchase price was $359,500. Is Zillow's estimate a good indicator at what price your home may close at?



Panda
 
[quote author="awgee" date=1226235326]Zillow's estimates are good for a + or - of about 50%, IMO.</blockquote>


I glance at Zillow's scientific wild-ass guesses when I do posts. They are usually + or - 20%, usually about +10. I share awgee's sentiment though. If it is off that much, it might as well be off by 50% because it is pretty useless.
 
[quote author="IrvineRenter" date=1226237074][quote author="awgee" date=1226235326]Zillow's estimates are good for a + or - of about 50%, IMO.</blockquote>


I glance at Zillow's scientific wild-ass guesses when I do posts. They are usually + or - 20%, usually about +10. I share awgee's sentiment though. If it is off that much, it might as well be off by 50% because it is pretty useless.</blockquote>


I wish Zillow was correct, and I will be happy to sell my home for the $830k it thinks it is worth. No joke, the place across the street sold for less on a sqft. basis, and I would be happy to sell my place for the zestimate. Do I have any takers for my single story 2800+ sqft home, 4/2, 10k lot... seriously? You offer me the right price and I would sell. No joke, you pony up, and I would sell for $800k or more. Bidding wars anyone? That's what I thought, you sleep while I rant. Step up investors, they did across the street, so why don't you? Come on... this prime OC land. They aren't making any land, more ya know!
 
[quote author="graphrix" date=1226259075][quote author="IrvineRenter" date=1226237074][quote author="awgee" date=1226235326]Zillow's estimates are good for a + or - of about 50%, IMO.</blockquote>


I glance at Zillow's scientific wild-ass guesses when I do posts. They are usually + or - 20%, usually about +10. I share awgee's sentiment though. If it is off that much, it might as well be off by 50% because it is pretty useless.</blockquote>


I wish Zillow was correct, and I will be happy to sell my home for the $830k it thinks it is worth. No joke, the place across the street sold for less on a sqft. basis, and I would be happy to sell my place for the zestimate. Do I have any takers for my single story 2800+ sqft home, 4/2, 10k lot... seriously? You offer me the right price and I would sell. No joke, you pony up, and I would sell for $800k or more. Bidding wars anyone? That's what I thought, you sleep while I rant. Step up investors, they did across the street, so why don't you? Come on... this prime OC land. They aren't making any land, more ya know!</blockquote>


Graph, I am a little confused... About 9 months ago, You gave IPO the advice to unload his detached condo but how come you haven't done it yourself? I was suprised to see how fast IPO and Trojan unloaded their homes. (Sold within one week). I'm sure you wouldn't have any problems selling your home too right? I mean heck, you are single and so portable right now. If i were you i would unload your property ASAP and rent a nice brand new 1 bedroom apartment in Orchard Hills. You are not under water by any chance are you?
 
[quote author="PANDA" date=1226221591]Zillow.com is listing my townhome for $404,500 and my purchase price was $359,500. Is Zillow's estimate a good indicator at what price your home may close at?



Panda</blockquote>


If I remember correctly, you have a 2,500 sq.ft. place in Chicago?



That would be a sweet little $145 / sq. ft. I wish prices were that low here!
 
zillow had been lowering the zestimate on our costa mesa house pretty radically over the summer, while they were raising it considerably on the Paso house. Now it's doing the opposite. The latest drop on the Paso house is probably pretty darned close to what it could sell for today, however they have the value of the CM house at $446K. The most recent comp in the tract just sold for $411K last month. It's not as big as ours, but has a lot more updates, so probably quite comparable. However, the house across the street went back to the bank in Sept for $391K, so I suspect that we will start seeing sub $400K in the tract any day. I think IR hit it on the head when he said it's off by about 10%. That being said, I haven't seen any of the others even close to reality.
 
[quote author="Roo" date=1226475325][quote author="PANDA" date=1226221591]Zillow.com is listing my townhome for $404,500 and my purchase price was $359,500. Is Zillow's estimate a good indicator at what price your home may close at?



Panda</blockquote>


If I remember correctly, you have a 2,500 sq.ft. place in Chicago?



That would be a sweet little $145 / sq. ft. I wish prices were that low here!</blockquote>


Add in what it costs to heat and cool a home in Chicago and your monthly housing costs are probably equivalent.
 
[quote author="Roo" date=1226475325][quote author="PANDA" date=1226221591]Zillow.com is listing my townhome for $404,500 and my purchase price was $359,500. Is Zillow's estimate a good indicator at what price your home may close at?



Panda</blockquote>


If I remember correctly, you have a 2,500 sq.ft. place in Chicago?



That would be a sweet little $145 / sq. ft. I wish prices were that low here!</blockquote>


$145 / sq. ft for place in Chicago

add $80 /sq ft for All year round warm weather - Sunshine TAX

add $80 /sq ft for access to the most beautiful beaches (Laguna and CDM) - Beach TAX



$305 / sq ft. for a place in Irvine... This is where the difference is Roo.



It is starting to get REAL cold here. I can't stand this weather.. PLEASE HELP!

Sad Panda.
 
[quote author="PANDA" date=1226481966][quote author="Roo" date=1226475325][quote author="PANDA" date=1226221591]Zillow.com is listing my townhome for $404,500 and my purchase price was $359,500. Is Zillow's estimate a good indicator at what price your home may close at?



Panda</blockquote>


If I remember correctly, you have a 2,500 sq.ft. place in Chicago?



That would be a sweet little $145 / sq. ft. I wish prices were that low here!</blockquote>


$145 / sq. ft for place in Chicago

add $80 /sq ft for All year round warm weather - Sunshine TAX

add $80 /sq ft for access to the most beautiful beaches (Laguna and CDM) - Beach TAX



$305 / sq ft. for a place in Irvine... This is where the difference is Roo.



It is starting to get REAL cold here. I can't stand this weather.. PLEASE HELP!

Sad Panda.</blockquote>


and you don't have to have a second home in Florida to escape to as some of the people I know in Chicago do.
 
I believe it just extrapolates past data for x years, so it's not useful at all in the current economy. Maybe once the prices stabilize.
 
[quote author="PANDA" date=1226313567][quote author="graphrix" date=1226259075][quote author="IrvineRenter" date=1226237074][quote author="awgee" date=1226235326]Zillow's estimates are good for a + or - of about 50%, IMO.</blockquote>


I glance at Zillow's scientific wild-ass guesses when I do posts. They are usually + or - 20%, usually about +10. I share awgee's sentiment though. If it is off that much, it might as well be off by 50% because it is pretty useless.</blockquote>


I wish Zillow was correct, and I will be happy to sell my home for the $830k it thinks it is worth. No joke, the place across the street sold for less on a sqft. basis, and I would be happy to sell my place for the zestimate. Do I have any takers for my single story 2800+ sqft home, 4/2, 10k lot... seriously? You offer me the right price and I would sell. No joke, you pony up, and I would sell for $800k or more. Bidding wars anyone? That's what I thought, you sleep while I rant. Step up investors, they did across the street, so why don't you? Come on... this prime OC land. They aren't making any land, more ya know!</blockquote>


Graph, I am a little confused... About 9 months ago, You gave IPO the advice to unload his detached condo but how come you haven't done it yourself? I was suprised to see how fast IPO and Trojan unloaded their homes. (Sold within one week). I'm sure you wouldn't have any problems selling your home too right? I mean heck, you are single and so portable right now. If i were you i would unload your property ASAP and rent a nice brand new 1 bedroom apartment in Orchard Hills. You are not under water by any chance are you?</blockquote>
No, he is not underwater, and it may even be paid off. There are many reasons as to why someone may feel it is a desirable option to sell a property or feel not.
 
If Graph's house is 2800sft on a 10k lot... shouldn't it be able to fetch $800k? I don't know what area it's in but just based on square footage alone, it doesn't seem that price is too far off comparables that I see currently listed.
 
[quote author="irvine_home_owner" date=1226499280]If Graph's house is 2800sft on a 10k lot... shouldn't it be able to fetch $800k? I don't know what area it's in but just based on square footage alone, it doesn't seem that price is too far off comparables that I see currently listed.</blockquote>


Well, first it is not in Irvine, but in a very nice neighborhood in OC. The house across the street recently sold for $629k, but even though zillow recognizes that sale price it still shows a zestimate of $768.5k. If that isn't proof that zillow is wrong, then I don't know what could possibly be any harder evidence than that. Granted my house is bigger, on a slightly bigger lot, a bit more upgraded, but it is on the busy side of the street. So... to be honest, I could sell today for around the $625k-$650k range. If anyone wants to pay the Zestimate of $828k, then I would be happy to sell it. I have no need to sell at the moment, and I will probably keep it as a rental when I do decide I no longer want to live there. It isn't paid off yet, but the debt is really low and getting lower. I could rent it now and have a net positive cash flow on it with a 25% vacancy factor. I do think values will go down some more, but just like everyone forgot about the housing bubble in the 90s, well they will forget about the one from the mid-2000's decade too, and it will happen all over again. By then there really won't be any more land, and everyone will want to live here again.
 
Panda,



If you recall Ipo was looking to upgrade to a larger home and wanted to use the equity from the smaller home to purchase the larger one. He was urged to sell ASAP so that he could maximize his equity at the time and rent a larger home while everyone waited for prices on the larger homes to come down further.
 
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