I have a similar example of a Zillow error that is causing harm. I currently have my house on the market. While updating my owner info in Zillow I noticed that my Zestimate is 7% lower than an identical house 4 doors down. The only difference is an incorrect sale history on my house that shows a sale in 2003 for less than the house was worth at the time. Zillow confirmed that their data was in error and that their Zestimate was based on the incorrect data. They indicated they would correct the data, but it is now 5+ weeks later and although the Zestimate has been updated multiple times, the incorrect sale history is still being used. Zillow hasn’t responded to my recent requests to correct the data or remove the Zestimate until it is based on correct data.

I am getting surprisingly good traffic from potential buyers, everyone loves the house but hestitates on the offer. It would be hard to claim that the admittedly incorrect Zestimate isn’t damaging my ability to sell my house.

I happen to like Zillow although I would like to see many improvements. My problem is that they need to use correct data.

Based on your comments I need to go confirm the tax data as well.

What happened to the Arizona law suit? I’m in Arizona but hadn’t heard about it. Time to follow-up.

I hear what you’re saying. However, in today’s mortgage market I imagine that the people in control of the money are going to place much more scrutiny on appraisals and the income claims of their clients. In years past loan values usually maintained some level of sanity in property values.

That said Zillow is a tool which allows me to establish a relative snapshot of the value of my properties. Individuals of average intelligence should recognize that the Zillow estimates assume average condition, average upgrades and ignore micro location perturbations which might afford certain properties desirable views.

I further believe that Zillow has every right to make available their property value estimates based on their proprietary algorithms in conjunction with information available from public records. At most a disclaimer might be appropriate as to the limitations of the system I mentioned above. Individuals can price their property however they wish and seek help from realtors if they desire. Personally I believe that restricting my access to Zillow’s estimate is censorship.

Do you feel that the average realtor has the qualifications or training to establish the value of property?

Just because Zillow and your appraisers say your house is worth $X does not mean that it will sell for today. Market perception is one thing that AVM’s (and sometimes appraisers) don’t take into account. In my area, homes that are priced near what Zillow values them at end up sitting on the market for months. Sure, Realtors are protective of their services (as any business should be), but one of the core value proposition of a Realtor is to help you make a smart decision when choosing to sell your home.

If you were to list a home that Zillow values at $600,000 for $600,000 vs what a Realtor might tell you to list it for (say $590,000), your house might still be on the market in 3 or 4 months. Factor in your carrying costs and you could be missing out on more money if you would have listed it lower to begin with. Give what the market in Seattle was like 12 months ago, you could have even flipped those numbers around to make a case against Zillow and appraisers undervaluing property.

That’s just one example and I am sure that Ardell and others chime in with their own opinions. But the moral of the story is that higher valuations does not mean you can sell for more.

Zillow is a cool tool that gives information that may or may not be accurate on an individual basis. But it is fine to show aggregate trends.

You are the one with the moniker “dude”…pot…meet kettle.

And I really don’t need Zillow to “waste” their time with me.

You’re a classic keyboard warrior – big guy behind the keyboard but when it comes to revealing anything about yourself you go running for the hills.