The Truth About Your
Zestimate
By Deborah Bly, The Bly Team
Sixty-eight percent * of sellers today rely on the web to prepare and do their research, before they speak with a professional about selling their home. Many are turning to Automated home valuations from third-party websites such as Zillow, Trulia and otherfree MLS sites that are popping up all over the web.
Last year in 2016 over 16 billion dollars($ 16,000,000,000.00 = Lots of zeros!) was spent in the Real Estate space by companies like these, vying to win consumer attention and to get consumers to“ take action”. This huge spend indicates how much the consumer public values internet based research tooling. Internet based information service providers understand this fact intimately.
So … just how accurate is that online“ Zestimate” of home value?
Websites such as Zillow collect their data from deed recordings in a geographical area, as well as MLS data, to develop an average of values surrounding a specific home. That“ Zestimate”, by default, has an associated margin of error. Any AVM( Automated Valuation Model) is subjective and only takes into account numeric data. They are after all, just bots … computer algorithms running on a set of fixed variables.
While the data collected is remarkable, what Zillow( and other sites like it) cannot account for, are finishes or updates done to the home. Nor is Zillow able to smell a cat, see the green shag carpet, harvest gold appliances, or hear the freeway noise in the background.
Zillow is the first voice to point out in their Zestimate is indeed just that, a Zestimate, not an estimate. Zillow, while a great resource for data, has no intention of replacing the Realtor. Their business model actually relies on Realtors in order to be successful and is NOT the authoritative statement of your home’ s value.
Ultimately, with many factors to look at, there is no perfect science in assessing a home’ s optimum list price. Even with data on past sold’ s, professional market knowledge and experience, it is the consumer, The Smith family and The Johnson’ s, that determine a home’ s value.
League City Market Temperature YTD March 2017 VS March 2016
The League City market is still showing a slow stable and stable increase in market value, up 3.7 % YTD( year to date) over 2016 market.“
Month / YTD Comparison
YTD March 2016
YTD March 2017
Median Price $ 244,950 $ 254,000
# of Single Family Homes Sold
336 355
March 2016 vs March 2017- There was a dollar increase of $ 9,050, representing a 3.7 % increase.
* Zillow housing trends report.
MOMENTUM / May 2017 33