Why Zillow doesn’t reflect your home value after a remodel

Question: “We fully remodeled our house over the past year, but the Zillow estimate is about the same. What’s wrong with their formula?” Answer: I tell anyone and everyone: Never, ever depend on Zillow or any automated valuation for your home value. In your case, not only are automated valuations inherently unreliable, but Zillow would
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Are home valuation websites accurate?

Question: “A Realtor just told me my home is worth $850,000, but Zillow says $975,000 and…” Answer: Hold on…you must be a new subscriber to this newsletter! Otherwise, you’d have seen my regular rants (my son says too regular!) about how laughably inaccurate EVERY home valuation website is. Now, I’m not going to be like
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What are “iBuyers”?

Question: “Hi, I’ve heard Zillow is going to start buying homes. What’s that about?” Answer: Have you seen those scribbled signs by the side of the road that say, “I’ll buy your home for cash”? Or received one of those letters where they pretend they’re specifically interested in buying your house for cash, but it’s
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What is a Zillow Zestimate?

Question: “Hi Gary. I saw a little condo near SDSU for sale. The agent was advertising it as being $35,000 under Zillow Zestimate. I’m not sure what they’re talking about. Does that mean it’s a good deal?” Answer: Nope. What that means is the agent is trying to sway anyone foolish enough to think that
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Zillow: For Entertainment Purposes Only

“Hi Gary…I checked on Zillow and see my San Diego property is estimated at 691K, but it looks like the values listed on this site are quite high. I was thinking low 600’s. What would you estimate for the property as is?” Answer: We’re on the same page. Zillow does tend to be high. In
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