What’s Zillow's Zestimate?

What’s Zillow’s Zestimate?

I am sure you have seen that big number that stares right at you as soon as you pull up your address on Zillow. What’s your home’s Zillow Zestimate? So many people take that number as gospel, and it’s a really confusing thing to see once you get to the bottom of things. 

Are Zestimates correct? 

The simple answer is a Zestimate is your home value estimate. Zillow’s website says the following,

”The Zestimate® home valuation model is Zillow’s estimate of a home’s market value. The Zestimate incorporates public and user-submitted data, taking into account home facts, location &market conditions.

It is not an appraisal and it should be used as a starting point. We encourage buyers, sellers, and homeowners to supplement the Zestimate with other research such as visiting the home, getting a professional appraisal of the home, or requesting a comparative market analysis (CMA) from a real estate agent.”

As you can see, they take all the responsibilities off of their plate by summarizing the fact that they say, we pulled some numbers together, but we don’t trust them, and neither should you. You should contact a professional, whether it’s an appraiser or real estate agent, to get the value of your home before you sell. 

How does Zillow make its Zestimate home value?

Well, Zillow keeps up with closed prices and sold prices in each? Right now, in 2023, their data says that off-market price (the number you see on your home’s value) has an only 38% of homes in North Carolina sell within 5% of that number.  You are probably thinking what that means to me. 20% of homes in North Carolina values are off 20% of their estimates or more. Are you leaving money on the table? Maybe? 

You probably are thinking, well, what about my area? Charlotte’s market has faired a little better at 42%. So let’s break it down for you. You have a home you will sell, and Zillow says your home is worth 225,000, but it’s off by the North Carolina state average of 7.1%.  Want to see all the data? Here’s a spreadsheet from their website.

Here’s an example: Your home value would be 240,000. You listed your home for sale and get full asking for your sale price, but wonder why you had so much interest in the first couple of days. 

Congratulations, you just left 15,000 on the table, and you got to do all the work yourself. We see it every day and don’t want to see it for you. So let us get you the true value of your home and show you how we can keep that money in your pocket.

Didn’t quite call all that; well, pretty much in this example, Zillow caused our seller to list the home well undervalued. 

So why does Zillow miss the home value by so much?

Zillow bases all its information on zip codes. This means that really nice home in the country gets just as much value as the home down the street that is going into foreclosure.

They don’t know the areas. Do you know the old saying about across the railroad tracks? Well, railroad tracks might not be the boundaries to change a home’s value, but what about homes that are in a different school district or not in the city limits?

If they are all in the same zip code, they get the value. Do you think they know the difference between if a home on the lake has a pier, a boat ramp, or a boathouse? Definitely not, and once you are listed for sale, there’s no turning back. 

Is my Zillow Zestimate Right? What’s My Home’s Value?

I pretty much never trust an automated value. We know that they can give you a good base value, but there’s too much to risk not to contact a real estate agent to get a real home value estimate. Want to know more? Shoot us a message or call us at 336-939-6683.