Why Zillow Can’t Provide an Accurate Home Estimate

In order to find the true value of your home, I would recommend skipping a Zillow estimate. Here’s why.

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If you’re looking to sell your home, it’s important you understand the true value in order to price it for the market. Many people think using Zillow to guide their estimate is a good way to do that. I’ll go over how Zillow determines value and explain why their value estimates are not always realistic.

Zillow takes a computer-generated model and looks at the tax records and recent sales in the area. With that, a value for your home based on your tax records is generated. However, there are a couple flaws in that system.

For example, tax records can be incorrect, directly affecting the value estimate for your home. Additionally, Zillow doesn’t know about any upgrades you have done to your home. So, if you just put in a beautiful $50,000 patio area with a fireplace, Zillow won’t give you credit for that in their estimate.  

Zillow doesn’t take into account any upgrades you’ve done to your home.

When we come out to take a look at a home, we not only look at the square footage and bedrooms but also at any upgrades that you’ve done. We will also look at if your home backs up to anything desirable like open space, or if you have refinished anything recently.

If you want to know the true value of your home, we can provide that for you. In fact, we have seen online estimates off by as much as 30%.

If you have any other questions or if you’d like us to come out and provide you with the true value of your home, please feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!