People often ask me about Zillow and/or Trulia.
Is Zillow or Trulia accurate?
Do I use Zillow or Trulia as an appraiser?
Here I share 10 recent appraised values in 2013 and compare them with Zestimates or Trulia estimates of value at around the same time.
1) Palm Chase Condo - 1,340 sf gla: Appraisal: $109,000;
Zillow: $126,289 (+15.9%); Trulia: $132,000 (+21.1%)
2) Cypress Creek House - 2849 sf gla: Appraisal: $335,000;
Zillow $345,175 (+3%); Trulia: $376,000 (+12.2%)
3) Valencia Reserve House - 2396 sf gla: Appraisal: $500,000;
Zillow $439,629 (-12%); Trulia: $518,000 (+3.6%)
4) Palm Beach Leisureville - Boynton - HOA House - 1,077 sf gla: Appraisal: $75,000;
Zillow: $117,855 (+57.1%); Trulia: $116,000 (54.7%) actually sold for $75,000
5) Palm Beach Leisureville - Boynton - HOA House - 1,208 sf gla: Appraisal: $102,000;
Zillow: $109,560 (+7.4%); Trulia: $no result in Trulia
6) Sky Estates House, Boynton - 2,041 sf gla : Appraisal: $185,000;
Zillow: $167,730 (-9.3%), Trulia: $227,000 (+22.7%)
7) Chapel Hill, Boynton House - 2,413 sf gla: Appraisal: $410,000;
Zillow: $313,650 (-23.5%); Trulia: $364,000 (-11.2%) actually sold for $400,000
8) Canyon Springs, Boynton - House - 5,595 sf gla: Appraisal: $673,000 ;
Zillow: $876,000(+30.2%); Truvia: $755,000 (+12.2%)
9)Greentree Villas - Condo - 1,400 sf gla : Appraisal: $75,000 ;
Zillow: $80,000 (+6.3%); Trulia: $97,000 (+22.7)
10) Coquina Cove, Boynton not WF House - 2255 sf gla : Appraisal: $290,000 ;
Zillow: $250,000 (-16%); Trulia: no value given
How accurate is Zillow or Trulia?
It’s hit and miss. FWIW, I don’t consider Zillow to be particularly reliable. As you can see above, some of the values were really close, but others were anything but close. An online valuation site cannot possibly know the idiosyncrasies of a real estate market – not to mention interior condition, level of construction quality or locational features that can drastically affect value ie waterview or golfview or proximity to commercial or industrial property or proximity to any number of nuisance features that a computer cannot account for the way a professional real estate appraiser can even with a drive-by inspection, let alone with a complete inspection. Sometimes tract neighborhoods with a high level of data seem to have more accuracy on Zillow or Trulia (not always true), while neighborhoods where each street and house are different can be very far off (even hundreds of thousands of dollars off the mark). For instance, in Palm Beach County data can be very varied in some areas, so an online “valuation” without actual data isn’t all that compelling. Another problem with online services would be rapidly changing market conditions in either a falling or rising market. I would say if you use Zillow or Trulia regularly, use it for what it’s worth, but understand its limitations.
Do I use Zillow or trulia in my appraisals? I would never use Zillow or Trulia to support values in my reports.
By the way, I don’t have any problem with Zillow or Trulia. This post is simply written as an FYI for clients and consumers.
Questions: How do you use Zillow or Trulia? Any comments or stories to share?
Comments(4)