Zillow.com

[JoyJoy]

The founders of Expedia.com now have Zillow.com
Zillow.com gives you Zestimates on your home and that of practically anyone you know. In most cases all you need is the address, city and state and you can find out the cost of the home, tax information, year house was built, etc.

[disneysteve]

Re: Zillow.com

Last time I checked, Zillow didn't have info on my area. They list tax-assessed value only which has nothing to do with actual property values.

[shelbylovesmelby]

Re: Zillow.com

never heard of that one but i know our county & some neighboring cities already have the info listed online anyway.

[tinapbeana]

Re: Zillow.com

i personally am not too big a fan of zillow, b/c the information is exceedingly general. for my house, for instance, the value on zillow last august was 25% higher than the appraisal from july...

[safari]

Re: Zillow.com

Their estimated values are way too high. For example, my neighbor recently sold a townhouse for $695,000, while the estimated value on zillow was $860,000 minimum. She first listed at $749,000, but had to come down in price several times because she was not getting any offers.

[sweeps]

Re: Zillow.com

I find just the opposite in my area. Zillow's estimates are too low. I wish I could buy some of the houses at the price that Zillow lists.

[34saving]

Re: Zillow.com

What do you guys think of the new "make me move" feature? Basically you list a price that would compel you to move and (passively) wait for an offer . . .

[PRICEPLUS]

Re: Zillow.com

Zillow is a bit scary the way they take pictures of homes. I could see the cars in the drieway. Big brother is watching I guess!

[disneysteve]

Re: Zillow.com

Zillow is a bit scary the way they take pictures of homes. I could see the cars in the drieway. Big brother is watching I guess!

That isn't just Zillow. You can access aerial images at several sites including Google and Mapquest. They are all taken by satellite.

[MonkeyMama]

Re: Zillow.com

Zillow is pretty accurate for our area plus you can see what people paid for their houses and what their property tax bill. So you can be pretty nosy. I tried to be nosy about relatives in smaller cities though and no data.

What I find interesting is people seem to us this info, mostly the value of a house, to judge people's wealth when really you have NO IDEA how they came up for the money for a house and no idea how much it is mortgaged. It really doesn't tell you much overall.

I guess who knows how accurate any of the info is. But I find it kind of interesting. I have always been a little obsessed with real estate values so I really like the site. I could look at it all day - just find it interesting for whatever reason.

[LuxLiving]

Re: Zillow.com

In my area they are way too low - little houses are selling here in the 100,000 range and they are on zillow for 30 & 40 thousand! A hoot.

I like the make me move feature well enough I suppose. Hubster and I have put up a figure which is below what the house is worth in the somewhat current market of a still warm but not heated marketplace - but our move price is still way more than what zillow has it listed as - mainly because of the property that goes with AND the square footage the house has that isn't listed at the county court house - we have almost double the square footage that is livable space than is recorded.

And, even at that our price may be too low - I personally think it's worth about 25,000 more than our 'move' price, and The Hubster who has no pulse at all on what's going on in the RE market thinks it is priced too high. Ehhh, moot - it would take ALOT OF WORK to get rid of all the stuff in the basement if we were to downsize now. I'm not looking at there being an offer any time soon.

Paul I know what you mean - those photogs are scary when they sit at your driveway too long - I've even had to go tell them to leave that they were scaring my kids! Go do your paperwork in another driveway. I don't know if they were associated w/zillow or not, but still - move along bud!

[JoyJoy]

Re: Zillow.com

The founders of Zillow.com admitted that some of the houses were underpriced and that was because the homes had been improved. They could only price the homes from the outside. There is a place on Zillow, however, where an owner can update the information.

Our information is there and our property tax information is correct. Our tax assessment is also correct. The value of our house is understated about $11,000.00; according to the appraisal we received in 2005.

[PauletteGoddard]

Re: Zillow.com

I like Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's House Price Calculator.

[poundwise]

Re: Zillow.com


The few that I looked up on Zillow were definitely off value-wise and in a couple of cases the information about the house (stories, sq. footage) was incorrect.

Consider me unimpressed.

[LuxLiving]

Re: Zillow.com

Oh yes, poundwise, they have us in a one story home. We have a finished full basement along with the resulting increase in square footage! Sheesh...I don't think they added that part in later, KWIM?