Zillow.com is a Great Tool… Right?

Zillow.com is a home and real estate marketplace designed to share vital information about homes, real estate, and mortgages. Making this information easily accessible was intended to help consumers make educated decisions about real estate, but the information provided can be very misleading. One way Zillow.com is misleading, is due to the “Zestimate”. Even though a “Zestimate” is calculated similarily to an appraisal, it is not an appraisal. The “Zestimate” is simply an estimated value, and should be treated as a starting off point to determine a home’s value. From the “Zestimate” branches a value range. The value range shows the low and high values of a home and can very inaccurate.The accuracy of the value range weighs heavily on Zillow.com’s historical ability to estimate homes. The gap in the Value Range will help indicate how accurate the ‘Zestimate’ is; a large gap indicates inaccuracy.

Real estate applications may seem a helpful tool, but unfortunately they are not very accurate. Zillow.com does have a disclaimer that warns that they may not have enough data to give customers accurate information, but this warning is not easily viewed and often ignored. So remember that Zillow.com may seem like a strong real estate tool, but it is highly probable that their data is flawed.