Zillow Listing Tool, Love It or Leave It

Zillow listing tool, love it or leave it? Love it or leave it is a TV show on whether to fix up your property and keep it or fix it up to sell and leave it. When looking to “leave it” you might be looking at homes to purchase as well as looking into what is the current value of your home is once fully remodeled?

The question here is when remodeling your home can Zillow’s artificial intelligence give you an accurate value on your fully remodeled home? The answer, probably not yet, but maybe someday. An automated value, the Market Analysis Zillow does is based on averages and mean values per a Sacramento appraiser. Remember the mean formulas from college statistics course? I took that course at Sac City College a long time ago, lol.

I read a blog yesterday about some interesting stats. When Zillow says it is only 5% off of the value they are referencing “the mean” that 5% off stat if correct, is approximately only right half of the time. The error rate could be closer to about 8%. That could be significant. $400,000 at 8% could be about $32,000.

No one is arguing Zillow is very user-friendly and the site has great information about schools and shopping, demographics of an area. Buyers go there, even when we put them on MLS direct searches. If agents want to receive leads, then Zillow may be a good way to go. Buyers often think Zillow is the MLS. They don’t understand that MLS is always the source of the listings for sale, these other sites simply download the MLS data.

For sellers, we recommend you always obtain a Market Analysis for your home. One subdivision to another can vary greatly in values. If you are still concerned about your home value, you can always hire a licensed appraiser. This will cost about $400-$600. You can obtain an independent valuation from a hyper-local appraiser, who knows your area.

If you desire more accurate estimates of value on your home, just call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors with RE/MAX Gold. We can be reached by cell at 916- 233-6759.

— JaCi Wallace