FWIW I sold my house in Apple Valley CA for over 20% more than what Zillow stated it was worth in less than 30 days.
Since Zillows methodology isn't open to scrutiny I assign it as much credibility as alien abduction testimonials.
FWIW I sold my house in Apple Valley CA for over 20% more than what Zillow stated it was worth in less than 30 days.
Since Zillows methodology isn't open to scrutiny I assign it as much credibility as alien abduction testimonials.
carguy123 wrote: So dculberson you are saying the county auditor keeps up with property values in real time?
Nonono I was talking about sales amount. Not the zestimate. Sales amount meaning the price at which a successful real estate transaction took place. Zestimate is crap.
The county auditor does indeed keep track of sales as they happen so they can set taxable values. Hence the illegality of misreporting it.
A tax assessment is not the same as an appraisal, and does not necessarily represent the value.
The tax assessor's job is to establish a fair method of property evaluation for taxation purposes, NOT resale. That's an assessment. A multiplier known as a millage rate is applied to the assessment to determine property taxes. People frequently mistake this for an appraisal of value.
An appraisal is an accurate evaluation of value in the current market. They ONLY use comps of houses that have already sold. They are performed only by appraisers, and must comply with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and appraisal regulations. Additionally, they must meet requirements of the lender.
Contrary to popular belief, Realtors DO NOT do appraisals. Realtors do what is usually called a Comparative Market Analysis. A CMA is a guess as to what the property MAY sell for. It includes comps of properties that have sold, but also what is listed, and what did not sell.
Value is technically none of those things. The VALUE of a property is what a willing buyer and a willing seller can agree on when neither is under duress. Hot markets are technically not indicators of value, because the buyers are under the duress of a stressful market. Value MIGHT have something to do with Net Worth.
A Zestimate is none of the above. They use their own standard, which is unknown.
If a tax assessor were to use Zillow's info for tax evaluation purposes, it would be a mess, and very possibly grounds for a law suit.
In reply to SVreX:
When we bought our house in January there weren't many acceptable properties in the city within our price range, and no other ones in this neighborhood. When we received our appraisal, there were no true comps - it's an older area and properties just don't hit the market very often - but the 3 he found were all in the same price range. Zillow's estimate was a couple thousand more than our purchase price, which seemed ok to me.
A couple months after closing the house across the street came on the market. It was 1000 sq-ft smaller than ours, on a lot about 1/3rd the size, with no outbuildings & needing repairs. It was also listed for 40% of our house. A couple weeks later my PC crashed & when it restarted it loaded all the web pages I'd had open when we were house shopping. The Zillow estimate for our home now showed about 60% of our purchase price. :-/
BTW, assessments are never current. Some municipalities have gone 20 years or more since a reassessment.
This is supposed to be reflected in the millage rate.
For example, if the assessments are off by 20%, the millage rate can be adjusted to increase the tax revenue. The assessments are supposed to be equally inaccurate, to be fair to all taxpayers.
Tax assessment in our area has always lagged 20% or more behind actual values. we've successfully argued against increases as well. Never automatically accept tax hikes without trying to fight it. Once we managed it and another they literally laughed at us, but nothing ventured nothing gained.
Just for S&Gs I looked up my house and in the 7 years I have had it it sais it has gone up almost 50% I think it may be time to think about things.
SVrex nailed it. Tax assessments and value are 2 different beasts entirely and shouldn't be confused as comparable.
In reply to carguy123:
Is there a dfw local appraiser that you could recommend? I'm thinking about selling my house, but I have no idea about value and I don't always believe realtors.
David Dohoney (214) 244-8829 or (972) 818-1213
Tell him David Bennett sent you.
BUT you can only use him to see what your value is prior to selling. For financing purposes you are no longer allowed to use appraisers you've picked. See the link below.
The0retical wrote: FWIW I sold my house in Apple Valley CA for over 20% more than what Zillow stated it was worth in less than 30 days. Since Zillows methodology isn't open to scrutiny I assign it as much credibility as alien abduction testimonials.
Yeah its nowhere close. 200K under what our appraised for during our last refi. Its a toy nothing more.
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