Any Alternatives To Zillow Home Valuation?

Hi Greg, it's David G from Zillow.com,

I assume that you're talking about other sites that offer instant free home value estimates. Other than Zillow.com, the sites I know of are realestate abc, eppraisal, cyberhomes and now, realtor.com. There are other sites that license content from one of these sites (e.g. Zillow's API is used by Yahoo! Real Estate and others) and others that don't publish estimates but do publish a wide estimated value range.

These sites all employ AVM's (automated valuation models) to estimate home values. All AVM's share similar limitations and all estimates should be viewed as estimates. That said, the quality of the raw data and the algorithms used by each AVM will differ and will result in a variance in the accuracy of estimates from one site to the next.

Zillow is the only site of its kind that publishes it's accuracy metrics so there's no way to know for certain which is the most accurate. That said, we've been transparent about our accuracy for years now; if any of these sites was measurably more accurate than Zillow, they would probably have published that data.

Zillow.com is also the only site of its kind that allows listing agents and owners to correct public records and have those updates applied to the estimate. This means that, Zestimates on homes that are posted for sale on Zillow will be more accurate than other sites' estimates in cases where public records are incorrect.

Now, obviously, some homeowners will gravitate to the site with the highest estimate but none the less, I think it's healthy to understand that estimates can and do vary; it reinforces the fact that a home value estimate is a starting point for research purposes, but not the final word on a home's value. Check these sites out; I challenge you to find one that has invested as much time, money and brainpower into its AVM, its data and its home value reporting as Zillow has. 

Last point on this (and thank you if you've read this far) ... Zestimates were the starting point for Zillow and they're still a big draw for the 5,2M people that visited the site last month BUT there's far more to Zillow than just Zestimate values. Did you know, for instance, that your buyers can now get annonymous, customized mortgage quotes from local lenders in Zillow Mortgage Marketplace?

I would say do your own CMA. Its bound to be more accurate.

Leslie -

Right on! I hope that every agent does their own CMA; none of these sites' estimates can replace a CMA (and they never will.) That said, automated estimates can supplement the information you present and an expert's knowledge of these tools is a great way to differentiate your CMA from those of competing agents. In many cases, your client will have been doing their homework and may feel a strong affinity for the websites they've been using. If you play your cards right, this could be something that you and the client have in common (just think about how compelling it is when you meet a REaltor and learn that they're also an active blogger on AR.)

Before you go to a CMA presentation, I recommend that you check the following on Zillow ...

1. Know your listing's Zestimate value but equally importantly, know what the Zestimate value's range is (i.e. the maximum and minumum estimates.)
2. Know what the public records say about the home's attribiutes (beds, baths, sq.ft.) and know whether that data disagrees with what the homeowner says. If there's a difference, you should let the seller know that you will be able to correct that data for them on Zillow when you post their home for sale.
3. Know the numbers on home value trends in your area from Zillow's most recent quarterly Home Value Reports.
4. Look up Zillow's accuracy performance in your area. If you ever do encounter a seller who is wishfully clinging to an estimate value, this information should convince them otherwise.

I think Realtor.com has a pricng program, but I have not checked it out.

Brett Shaw from Cyberhomes:

It is difficult for any evaluation site to be completely accurate, as recent additions, renovations, etc. aren't reflected in the current public tax data that many sites solely rely on for their information.  If you are looking for another option for evaluation information, check out recently re-launched Cyberhomes.com, which does not just rely on public tax data. 

We are owned by Fidelity National Financial (which houses the largest provider of MLS services) so we fundamentally have more content from within the FNF family of companies from which to aggregate our data.  The site has more than 100 million records and you can edit a specific home's fats to get a more accurate and immediate new evaluation.

Keep in mind that these are "estimates" and that your local real estate professional is the best source for home valuations.  This should just serve as a starting point in the pricing of your home.  

Good Luck!

Zillow's accuracy is very low in areas where the property types are mixed.  They don't seem to differentiate between a mobile home, concrete block home, and other types of property.  Bank of America used to have a great estimator on their site.  I'm not sure if it is there or not, but you can check bankofamerica.com.

Greg, Since your in my area I'm confused as to why the MLS is not your #1 choice?  Why bother with all these other nonsense sites when you've got 80-90% of the ACTUAL CLOSED info right there? Are you not a realtor member? Zillow is both inaccurate & way off base most of the time.  We should charge David Gibbons above for his Zillow commercials he does on AR. Type in the word Zillow & he pops up to "fill you in" and "correct your asssumptions".  Do you feel corrected? Do you now know how fabulous they are?

Never checked out CyberHomes, but will do so soon.

thank you very much for the post, some of the replies had some good info.

Greg,

While Homegain displays an instant homevaluation estimate, we display it in a range so as not to give consumers the impression that it is 100% accurate.

More importanly we feature local realtors who can further help consumers with determining their homes values by providing a cma.

We also offer home improvement tips through our homesalemaximizer tool - all under the purview of a local realtor in an ad free environment.

Cyberhomes.com uses data from the Fidelity, Chicago and Ticor Title Systems

Thanks for posting.  Great content.  Here's a blog I recently posted about Zillow as it relates to Tampa home appraisals.  Have a great one!

http://tampabayappraisers.com/2011/01/every-reason-not-to-use-zillow-for-home-values/

Jon Tipton

If zillow is crapping on your house value, return the favor - box up and anonymously send them some dog poop.  we shouldn't have to tell them everything about our homes to improve our value on their site.  Instead, if they get enough dog poop from a certain area code, they'll get the picture that their is something wrong with their model there...3