Zillow home estimates

[dirtbiker]

I recently signed up at Personal Capital to track spending, net worth, etc., and I linked my home value estimate from Zillow, and my home value estimate is changing daily by swings of up to $50k plus. Yesterday my "Zestimate" was $338k, today it is $282k, and the day before it was around $300k. In all reality, it's not a big deal at all... It's just annoying seeing such large artificial swings in my net worth every time I log in.

Anyone else having issues with this? How accurate are their estimates? Does anyone know?

 

[SumDay]

Yes, I signed on a few days ago to see our net worth had increased by $100K. Figured out where it was coming from and am glad I didn't go out and blow that dough. They must be tweaking their algorithm.

Several realtors have told me they HATE Zillow - their estimates are not very accurate. People get really excited when they want to list a house and Zillow tells them it's worth way more than the market will bear.

 

[jetpack]

Had the same problem. They also suddenly switched my house from a 2 family to a one family. I removed it. If you really need the bottom line, you can manually add your estimate for home value.

 

[Flyfish1]

Yeah it's crazy - my home gained over $200K in value in a day.

Maybe trulia or realtor.com would be better.

 

[Aerides]

Zillow isn't really a good estimator, and yes it can swing a lot as comps around you sell (or don't).

Aside from that, most of us here don't count our home in our net worth data, since it's not part of the assets that influence firecalc or other FIRE modeling results.

 

[footenote]

I find Zillow hilariously incorrect most of the time. (I do not include my (paid-for) home as an asset for any calculator. )

A modestly time-consuming, but far more accurate method is to scan listing prices and after-sale prices of comparable homes in your neighborhood.

 

[Rianne]

I check home value on:
https://www.redfin.com/
They at least give you recent "solds" in your area and the date of the sale so you can see what they're basing the value on.

 

[Bamaman]

What I don't like is the pictures of my home when it was for sale 4 years ago. Inside and outside pictures. I really don't want anyone to know what it looks like for defensive purposes. Our community has too many cat burglars out there scouring the internet and Facebook looking for citizens on vacation and especially those with fine homes to burglarize.

We've gone into a defensive mode including installing a new, stronger front door unit, new monitored alarms, beefed up door locks and door jambs. And it doesn't hurt to have a 130 pound Rottweiler living as a house dog.

 

[Housewife]

Zillow over-emphasizes square footage of the house and land, but does not bother with important nuances such as actual location (eg. busy street, behind commercial properties, next to railroad), condition of the house, curb appeal etc. Zillow is not great in calibrating factors that are not quantifiable. However, I am not sure if there is another source that is better yet still readily accessible.

We mark to market our house value once a year. We take a 10% haircut from Zillow estimate at the end of every year and forget about it until the following year. Any market fluctuations in between are not terribly relevant to us.

 

[dirtbiker]

Thanks everyone. Glad I'm not alone. I may just unlink Zillow and manually put in an estimate.

 

[joeea]

I haven't had the same experience. The Zestimate of our home didn't exhibit the dramatic changes you have seen.

And when we sold our home last month, the Zestimate was just about right on the money (only about $10k low) compared with what we actually got.

Maybe it was just a coincidence.

 

[jkern]

Zillow is inaccurate in my neighborhood. A house just came on the market $300K above the Zillow estimate. Houses sell pretty quickly and it could go over the asking price.

 

[Aerides]

What I don't like is the pictures of my home when it was for sale 4 years ago. Inside and outside pictures. I really don't want anyone to know what it looks like for defensive purposes.

I think if you log in and "claim" the home, you can then made edits and remove the photos. Most houses I've followed end up removing all but the main exterior shot within days after selling.

 

[Moemg]

On Trulia they have a picture of our house which is three stories and in the info they have one floor house .

 

[davebarnes]

Maybe trulia... would be better.

Zillow owns Trulia.

 

[Sojourner]

Aside from that, most of us here don't count our home in our net worth data, since it's not part of the assets that influence firecalc or other FIRE modeling results.

+1

The value of your home should not be included in your investable NW, unless you are planning to sell it, invest the proceeds, and not purchase another house to live in.

 

[dirtbiker]

I calculate it into my net worth because, well, it's part of my net worth. And we're not living in our forever house, so the equity is something that will be used one day.

But I don't count it as an asset when using any of the retirement calculators.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

What I don't like is the pictures of my home when it was for sale 4 years ago. Inside and outside pictures. I really don't want anyone to know what it looks like for defensive purposes. Our community has too many cat burglars out there scouring the internet and Facebook looking for citizens on vacation and especially those with fine homes to burglarize.

We've gone into a defensive mode including installing a new, stronger front door unit, new monitored alarms, beefed up door locks and door jambs. And it doesn't hurt to have a 130 pound Rottweiler living as a house dog.

As mentioned before, if you "claim" you home on Zillow, you can remove the pictures.

https://zillow.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/203511930-How-do-I-add-or-remove-photos-of-my-home-

Also, Zillow is a marketing website. They are geared to make homeowners want to SELL their home. What better way than to make unsuspecting folks think their house is worth SO MUCH MONEY!!!

 

[W2R]

Zillow isn't really a good estimator, and yes it can swing a lot as comps around you sell (or don't).

That's for sure! According to Zillow my home is now worth 142% of what I paid for it less than 4 years ago. Realtor dot com says 139%, and Trulia dot com says 129%. Sorry, Zillow, you lose - - that value is just crazy! The real estate market is just not that hot here. Even if it's true, I'll never know because I wouldn't sell my Dream Home for any amount of money. I love living here and my life is all just one big bowl of cherries when I can awaken each morning right here at home in a house that is so nicely set up for aging in place.

Aside from that, most of us here don't count our home in our net worth data, since it's not part of the assets that influence firecalc or other FIRE modeling results.

Exactly. At this point in my retirement I have no plans to ever move (until I croak), so I don't really have any use for a real net worth calculation. I do have a sum that is my immediately investable assets (investment portfolio plus bank account balances), and I calculate that instead.

 

[Dtail]

Zillow isn't really a good estimator, and yes it can swing a lot as comps around you sell (or don't).

Aside from that, most of us here don't count our home in our net worth data, since it's not part of the assets that influence firecalc or other FIRE modeling results.

Actually it was fairly close to the asking price on the house we bought.
Some folks count their house as part of NW even though they don't include it in investment asset calculations.

 

[W2R]

Actually it was fairly close to the asking price on the house we bought.
Some folks count their house as part of NW even though they don't include it in investment asset calculations.

Woo-hoo! If my house is worth what Zillow says, then I'm sitting pretty.

 

[Another Reader]

California is considering imposing a rather punitive estate tax. A number of other states already have estate taxes with relatively low minimums and high rates. If you live in one of these states, it's a good idea to include your home in your net worth, as your heirs may have to have to pay that tax and you might want to seek a more tax friendly state at some point.

I calculate net worth separately from net investable assets anyway. The house could be leveraged to extract 80 or 90 percent of the value if needed, so it's relevant.

Zillow is now in the "house buying" (equity stealing) business. Here's a real example. Z-estimate is $242k. Offer from Zillow is $223k, based on "comps." Net to seller is $203k. And that's before inspections. I would be extremely reluctant to trust Zillow in any capacity, given this example.

 

[aja8888]

Zillow does not know the actual sales prices of homes in Texas as that is not public information. Their estimates in Texas are all over the map.

 

[W2R]

Zillow does not know the actual sales prices of homes in Texas as that is not public information. Their estimates in Texas are all over the map.

Same here in Louisiana. I don't think they can get that info from local government easily. From what I can tell, they get averages for zip codes, throw in a few recent sales if they can get those amounts somehow, and do optimal interpolation. It's most obvious in our neighborhood, where older 1500 sf 1965 homes like ours are slowly being replaced by 4000 sf McMansions. Zillow values them all the same, unless one has sold recently.

 

[Mdlerth]

Zillow, schmillow. You're making it more difficult than necessary

I recently signed up at Personal Capital to track spending, net worth, etc., and I linked my home value estimate from Zillow, and my home value estimate is changing daily by swings of up to $50k plus.

Help me out here, because I don't understand. Are you saying you check these data on a daily basis? Do other people do that?

I think there are two reasons this is a bad idea. One, this is a retirement forum, yet you contrive for yourself an extra task each day. A reasonable person might consider this counter to the concept of retirement. Admittedly, I'm a lazy lump whose retirement goal is to REDUCE the number of tasks I have to do each day, so maybe I'm an outlier. But I don't check my PF more than a dozen times a year, and even that's probably too often. Similarly, most days I purchase nothing, so there would be no need to track spending every day.

The second and more important reason is that, unless you have an asset allocation of 0/100, your NW is likely to vary a LOT. Real estate, stocks, gold, pork bellies, artwork, classic cars, bitcoins, etc.; they all bounce around constantly. If you follow your investments too closely, every fluctuation could potentially influence you to react in ways you'll wish you hadn't.

I calculate it into my net worth because, well, it's part of my net worth. And we're not living in our forever house, so the equity is something that will be used one day.

Sure, "one day" you'll roll your current equity into your forever house. But if that day isn't imminent, what is the urgency for checking it on a daily basis?

If I simply "do not get it", it wouldn't be the first time, so I'd appreciate if you could explain why you do this.