Just How Accurate is the “Zestimate” on Zillow?

Zillow  is an online real estate database company that has become a very popular over the last decade.  Its user friendly platform allows you to easily find out a lot of pertinent information about a home.  One particularly interesting and somewhat controversial feature on Zillow is their “Zestimate”, in which Zillow uses a proprietary method to compile information about a property using tax assessed value, previous sale history, and information about home sales in the area to try to estimate (or “Zestimate”) the value of a particular home. 

The question is:  Is it accurate?  The answer is:  Kind of! 

Like your city / county tax assessment office, Zillow does its best to estimate value based on public information about your home.  What Zillow can’t see is the interior and exterior condition of the home and so many other factors that can dramatically affect market value!   “Using data published on the Zillow website, the typical Zestimate error in the United States in July 2016 was $14,000.”*  So while Zillow offers a data point on the value of your home, you’d be hard pressed to find a real estate professional who would say it’s “Zestimate” is an accurate way to determine market value! 

The best way to determine market value is still a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) in which your Realtor carefully combs through active and sold sales comparables to most accurately estimate what a buyer will be ready to pay for your home, which, at the end of the day, is exactly what your home is worth!  If you ever have a question about your home’s value, give us a call!  We’d be happy to provide a free CMA for your home!