I appreciate that my clients can get listings anytime, see open house times, and share houses with friends and family who are on the hunt except sometimes your listings aren’t for sale or your information is days or weeks behind. Or you have current information with old listing photos, or new listing photos with old property information. That’s not that big of an issue for most agents since we set our clients up with our local Multiple Listing Services (MLS) which has up to date accurate information that is sent to our clients when homes are listed. In fact, the information agents provide in our MLS is what is pushed out to you, RedFin, Trulia, and about 100,000 other websites. You’re welcome for the information by the way since you would be no where without it. All us agents ask for in return is that you provide accurate information especially when it comes to home values and our listings.

Unfortunately, so many people think that Zillow Zestimates are true home values and in many cases lead people to believe that their home is worth far more (or less) than it actually is. This can make it challenging when it comes to pricing a home since some sellers believe your information to be accurate. This can lead to buyers also being weary of a home. If they see a home listed for $450,000 but Zillow says it’s worth $415,000, they might actually forgo a home that is priced correctly because you told them it wasn’t. Most people don’t know that your Zestimate formula is an algorithm and does’t know the difference between neighbors, if a home is custom, if and when a home was updated, etc. You merely go off of how much the home was sold for, normal appreciation, and recent sales in a certain radius that may or may not be considered a comparable home when it comes to an appraisal or value. You also don’t know if the neighbors house sold for more than apprised value since you don’t have access to that information like Relators do.

Your misinformation can also lead to home owners believing that they can refinance their homes to drop off mortgage insurance or pull out the equity they now think they have. This is the one that can cost a homeowner money out of pocket and get them no where. A colleagues client purchased a home in May of 2020 for $425,000. In Oct of 2021 Zillow had the home value at $575,000. Although home values did increase more than normal from 2020 to 2021, most did not increase by 35%. The home owner believing they had enough equity to refinance and remove mortgage insurance lead them to start the refinance process and pay for an appraisal. The appraisal came back with a value of $485,000 which is $90,000 less than your Zestimate. Although a $60,000 gain in equity in 18 months is far more than average, they did not have the value needed to support a refinance. This is an instance where a home owner lost the cost of an appraisal which can be from anywhere from $500-$1,000.

In addition to over “Zesimating” homes, you also like to change the price when it gets listed, when it goes pending, and when it sells. Sometimes your price changes to the exact list and sold price, and sometimes it remains far above or below. It’s very inconsistent and causes much confusion for buyers and sellers.

Just in case you don’t believe me here are two examples of homes I recently listed and how your pricing changed throughout the process.

7540 Collingwood Street

Listed on Sept 16, 2021 for $340,000

Sold on Nov 9, 2021 for $355,000

Appraised value $355,000

2344 Cortez Lane

Listed on Oct 14, 2021 for $449,900

Sold on Nov 24,2021 for $465,000

Appraised value $465,000

So Zillow, the moral of this story is that you can be used as a tool but should not be considered the authority when it comes to home value, the sales status of a home, or even the photos or description. The best way to get up-to-date listings and receive an accurate home value report is to contact a Realtor or sign up for listings through a local MLS or Homesnap which is powered by MLS.