I don’t want to tell you my personal opinion in this blog about the topic at hand but I will present some actual reviews and criticisms from people that have used Zillow. There are a lot of websites out there that are supposed to make getting information about real estate easier but most of them aren’t well known to the public. Zillow was one of the big ones and one of the first ones that was supposed to be able to tell you the actual value of your home. The main use for Zillow is to get an accurate value of your home in case you are curious about it. Millions of people use it and believe it to be very reliable. Real estate professionals are the main reason this website is successful as we use Zillow to advertise knowing that the general public relies on it. With that said I’ll present some actual testimonies I found.
The first opinion is a common one and it is from a person trying to sell their home. This is one that I have personally noticed. “Our house value zestimate dropped by 30% in one day without any explanation or willingness to address or help resolve the issue. We were told that Zillow uses an algorithm to determine the zestimate but we’re not told what changed to cause the clearly and obviously erroneous drop in the zestimate. It is very obvious this is an error or a purposeful act by Zillow. This drop occurred the day we listed the home for sale by owner.” So as much as we all dislike FSBO’s it isn’t fair to devalue a house based on the fact that someone is trying to sell it themselves. The value of a property is based on the actual listings and sales of the other properties in the immediate area that are comparable to the subject property and also the individual characteristics like upgrades, updates, and/or condition of the property. What would someone selling their house themselves have to do with this? Nothing.
The next is from a Real Estate Professional. “Zillow does not provide leads as agreed. They have no way of being contacted and have basically diminished themselves to a scam company that pays executives tremendous salaries. The “Zestimates” are seldom accurate and sometimes differ hundreds of percent from the actual value. In fact, they don’t care about the actual estimates and have absolutely no way of being contacted because they want to hide from the many complaints that they would receive. Competition is on their heels and they will not be in business long as a result. They bought out Trulia but they can’t buy every new entry into this arena. I believe their days are numbered and cannot go out of business too soon in my opinion. They do more harm than good in the real estate industry. It’s time for them to go.” Unfortunately for Zillow I have also noticed the same thing several times. This one is true from personal experience and several other reviews that share the regard.
Well, I wanted to present an unbiased argument for Zillow but when I google positive reviews for Google, nothing from consumers came up. I did find this though, “Whether you are looking to rent, buy or sell your home, Zillow’s directory of local real estate agents and brokers connects you with professionals who can help meet your needs. Because the real estate market is unique, it’s important to choose a real estate agent or broker with local expertise to guide you through the process of renting, buying or selling your next home. Our directory helps you find real estate professionals who specialize in buying, selling, foreclosures, or relocation – among many other options. Alternatively, you could work with a local agent or real estate broker who provides an entire suite of buying and selling services.” But even with this, you are only being connected with Real Estate Professionals that pay to advertise with Zillow. My advice is to certainly contact a Realtor with your questions and don’t rely on Zillow to value your home.