Berk You Zillow

Made me look, worst one day loss is bad, really bad. But more then a few years back.

I check my net worth every time I pull my wallet out. Sometimes it's in the green, other times my net worth is plastic.....

Tom_Spangler wrote:

RX Reven' wrote: I’m very suspicious that they are monkeying with their estimates for some nefarious purpose.

What nefarious purpose, though? Like others have said, their values are so close to useless, what does it matter if they change? What goal can they accomplish? They probably just made some change to their methodology for some reason. The real question is why do you care so much?

Several possibilities…

Increase the estimated value of individual properties in exchange for paying a membership fee.

Create a revenue stream from major real-estate firms in exchange for inflating the estimated values of the homes they are representing.

???

In terms of why I care so much…no offense but I’ve already explained that in detail.

RX Reven' wrote: I’m very suspicious that they are monkeying with their estimates for some nefarious purpose.

What could possibly be a nefarious purpose?

If you want to do your own analysis, just use Redfin. you can download the data or interface with Tableau on their site.

https://www.redfin.com/blog/data-center

You get what you pay for. You could always pay for a real appraisal, although your home is only worth what it sells for, not what someone thinks it is worth. Depending on when you bought your home, you can always pull out your old appraisal and use it as a template to do your own comps. Some states (like Texas, for example) can make it hard to get sales prices. You might have to make friends with a realtor to get some MLS sales.

RX Reven' wrote: Several possibilities… Increase the estimated value of individual properties in exchange for paying a membership fee. Create a revenue stream from major real-estate firms in exchange for inflating the estimated values of the homes they are representing. ???

Umm...these are not possible, because major real estate firms don't read Zillow, and Zillow has absolutely nothing to do with value.

If an airplane or boat are out of your budget, perhaps Valium?

Our house went down 40% on zillow on the same day. And I also went to the website and checked the historical graph to see that it was changed as well.

I thought it was really odd too - but only noticed because zillow is tied into my mint. (which I do use mint to check my net worth daily... because it does it for me).

p.s. holy cow guys, checking your net worth is quicker than checking your email. Lay off the OP for checking once a day.

BTW, it IS possible your legitimate appraised value (by a REAL appraiser) could raise or drop significantly in 1 day.

Appraisers must follow legal guidelines in their states. Most say the appraisal must use at least 3 comps of sold properties that have sold in the last 12 months. If you live in a neighborhood with low turnover of high priced houses (and it sounds like you do), certain comps drop off the list after exactly 12 months.

If a high priced house sold in your neighborhood exactly 12 months ago and their are few other comps, then yeah, your actual appraisal could drop significantly.

This would not, however, affect your home's value or your net worth.

In reply to RX Reven':

I wish I had your problems.

I was happy on hte last appraisal the aprraiser thought it was worth more and the state thought it was worth less (for taxes). I'll take that.

BTW... why do I have to pay the state gov't rent every year to live in a house I own?

Bobzilla wrote: BTW... why do I have to pay the state gov't rent every year to live in a house I own?

Same reason you have to pay on the car you drive and the money you make and the stuff you buy...

Bobzilla wrote: I was happy on hte last appraisal the aprraiser thought it was worth more and the state thought it was worth less (for taxes). I'll take that. BTW... why do I have to pay the state gov't rent every year to live in a house I own?

I'm sure they be happy to turn off the sewage treatment plant and the fire department if you'd rather your house fill full of E36 M3 and then burn to the ground.

Taxes aren't rent.

Zillow isn't even remotely accurate, never has been and never will be.

Owning a mortgage company I get to see real world comparisons every day and there isn't even a pattern to how wrong they are &/or whether they'll be too high or too low.

If they are close it's like a blind pig finding an acorn type of occurance.

My house appraised for twice what zillow values it at. Then again zillow thinks its a one story with attatched garage.

I like this thread because it draws Cardude out of hiding.
Howdy Dude!
Good to see ya.

Zillow tells me three valuable things.

What the 1) list price of a house is, what its 2) sale price was, and 3) how long it was on the market. Square footage, updates, any of that is completely useless in my highly competitive market because "traditional" means of appraising values are thrown out the window. There are desirable neighborhoods that have nothing to do with schools or crime, and the only way you can tell they are desirable is houses fly off the market in those neighborhood while they sit stagnate two blocks away.

I'd be shocked if Zillow had accurate listing price or sold prices. That's MLS info, owned by the National Board of Realtors. It's proprietary info, and the Realtors are famously stingy when it comes to sharing that info. It's the only valuable info they have that enables Realtor commissions. They don't play well with others.

I doubt the Zillow info is accurate.

At this point in my life, the value of my home only is useful to my estate. We don't plan on moving, maybe in 20 years, dunno.

"Net Worth" including your home is only useful if you plan on selling it to pay for something.

SVreX wrote: I'd be shocked if Zillow had accurate listing price or sold prices. That's MLS info, owned by the National Board of Realtors. It's proprietary info, and the Realtors are famously stingy when it comes to sharing that info. It's the only valuable info they have that enables Realtor commissions. They don't play well with others. I doubt the Zillow info is accurate.

The list price and selling price are accurate for my house. Realtors or sellers keep the asking price updated on the website and the selling price is recorded with the local assessor's office. Zillow gets the selling price just like they get recent tax records, sq ft, number of baths, etc.

If the most recent transaction occurred a long time ago, then parts will be missing.

In reply to STM317:

Actually, local tax assessor is frequently incorrect on selling price. For whatever reason, lawyers and buyers report incorrect amounts, and they are recorded that way.

People who do title searches know the only way to actually tell the selling price on the tax records is to read the tax stamp, and do the math on the millage rate.

Strange but true. It's pretty much always been that way.

carguy123 wrote: Zillow isn't even remotely accurate, never has been and never will be.

Never looked at Zillow before but I did because of this thread and agree with this comment.

For my house nothing is correct. Square footage is short by 400 sq/ft, bedrooms listed at 4 when it is 3, Baths listed at 1 when it is 2 1/2, and the value is off by 27K from what I was offered a month ago.

Many states & municipalities don't report sales prices, but that doesn't stop Zillow from sticking a number in that slot.

One of the San cities in California (there's a ton of them) based some value assumptions on Zillow and almost put some legislation into play based upon their numbers until they realized Zillow was over 20% off - and that's in a state that reports sales data.

I'd sell that house and retire like a king in rural Kentucky

At least in Ohio I think the sales amount is based on the county auditor's data and if the sellers or realtors or title company reports that incorrectly they are breaking the law. I have no idea how often that law is enforced but every time I've had a way to double check Zillow's sales prices here they have been correct.

So dculberson you are saying the county auditor keeps up with property values in real time?