"Make Me Move" on Zillow (RE agent, square footage, commission)
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I always viewed the "make me move" as just that. I really really don't want to move, to get me to move, you're going to have to make me an offer thats well above market value. Give me a price I can't refuse. That sorta thing.
I think most of the Zillow bashing comes from two separate parties:
a) Real Estate Agents seeing their business vanish from under them, due to people realizing their "services" are easily done via the internet, for a much lower costs than RE fees.
b) Home owners/Investors hanging onto property that they assume is valued much higher than what it really is.
Zillow provides all the services that an RE does, short of the standard contracts: You can find listings, make listings, get a decent valuation, see market trends, etc etc. And, since you can get a lawyer to draw up a boiler plate contract for very little money, the need for an RE is vanishing.
And then, we have property owners who are mad because Zillow estimates their property value much lower than what the property owner thinks it is worth. But, property owners fail to realize that computer models tend to be much more accurate than a "gut feeling".
Z hurts people without regard or responsibility. Z fanbois do not care.
Fellow visited my listing.
List price was $420,000.
Zestimate was $380,000. Fellow did not have an agent to guide him, and could not bring himself to pay more than Zestimate. He should have bought the house. It was perfect for him, with 5 bedrooms for his large family, and perfect location.
A few weeks later, Zestimate was raised to $407,000 due to Z's statistical volatility unhinged from reality, but the fellow was gone.
Home sold for $410,000 only weeks after Z said $380,000.
Which attorney would have guided the fellow to proper value? He could not do it himself.
Z hurts people without regard or responsibility. Z fanbois do not care.
Fellow visited my listing.
List price was $420,000.
Zestimate was $380,000. Fellow did not have an agent to guide him, and could not bring himself to pay more than Zestimate. He should have bought the house. It was perfect for him, with 5 bedrooms for his large family, and perfect location.
A few weeks later, Zestimate was raised to $407,000 due to Z's statistical volatility unhinged from reality, but the fellow was gone.
Home sold for $410,000 only weeks after Z said $380,000.
Which attorney would have guided the fellow to proper value? He could not do it himself.
It's not "Perfect for him" if it was priced too highly. I don't know the market you were in, but you might have been lucky enough to buy a home for above the actual market price (It happens).
Again, you will note, that at the time the house sold, the Zestimate was damned near on the dot. Zestimate: 407K. Sale price: 410K. Hell, your list price was too high, Zestimate was closer.
You find fault with the "statistical volatility". Has it occurred to you, that in the short term, RE markets are in fact, volatile? And, even a RE Agent couldn't give a decent offer price. A RE Agent is there to give you comps, not tell you the offer to make. However, this is fine, because it's really up to the buyer to determine a price they feel is the market value, much akin to buying anything else: Shop around, and do your research.
zillow is a joke in my area (northern va) in regards to valuation. a quick search just now of a random property has the zestimate about $60,000 below the list price. home is under contract and will most likely settle close to the list price.
a $60,000 variance is ridiculous, and very frustrating to have to discuss with an uneducated buyer who feels the zestimate should be looked at as truth (regardless of zillows disclaimer)
zillow is a joke in my area (northern va) in regards to valuation. a quick search just now of a random property has the zestimate about $60,000 below the list price. home is under contract and will most likely settle close to the list price.
a $60,000 variance is ridiculous, and very frustrating to have to discuss with an uneducated buyer who feels the zestimate should be looked at as truth (regardless of zillows disclaimer)
List price is not the home valuation. Home valuation is whatever it sells for. And, you can find the typical margin for error for your city on Zillow's site.
Case in point: For my city (Buffalo, NY), the typical margin of error is in the neighborhood of 5%.
It's not "Perfect for him" if it was priced too highly. I don't know the market you were in, but you might have been lucky enough to buy a home for above the actual market price (It happens).
Again, you will note, that at the time the house sold, the Zestimate was damned near on the dot. Zestimate: 407K. Sale price: 410K.
You find fault with the "statistical volatility". Has it occurred to you, that in the short term, RE markets are in fact, volatile?
Unlike a boilerplate attorney who cannot get a real job, I work the local real estate market every day. There was no volatility to speak of. At $380,000, when the fellow screwed himself with a stupid computer model, the Z valuation was absurd.
The house was priced properly at $420,000 in a market where listings sell for just about 97% of last list price.
It sold at a price much higher than Z had intimated only a few weeks earlier. There was no dramatic market shift to account for their mistake, and Z never called him to apologize for their ineptitude.
Oh, and my favorite closing attorney and staff love getting my contracts. They are clear and clean.
List price is not the home valuation. Home valuation is whatever it sells for. And, you can find the typical margin for error for your city on Zillow's site.
I'm aware of that. my point is, using my example property, advertising the list price (that the property is in the MLS for), and then having your Zestimate directly below it at a $60,000 discount, with the disclaimer that this is "Zillows estimated market value" is going to mislead a consumer into thinking that they can possibly offer that lower price because zillow feels it is worth it (and stand a good chance of having their ofer accepted)
I could almost guarantee that if a buyer in my market offered the Zestimate price on a property they would never secure a property. ever.
Unlike a boilerplate attorney who cannot get a real job, I work the local real estate market every day. There was no volatility to speak of. At $380,000, when the fellow screwed himself with a stupid computer model, the Z valuation was absurd.
So absurd, on the date of sale, it sold for a price within $3K of the Zestimate... Ok, got ya.
I bet if it was priced within 10K of the Zestimate when the "fellow" looked, it would have sold for in the neighborhood of within $5K.
Quote:
The house was priced properly at $420,000 in a market where listings sell for just about 97% of last list price.
It sold at a price much higher than Z had intimated only a few weeks earlier. There was no dramatic market shift to account for their mistake, and Z never called him to apologize for their ineptitude.
It sold at $10K under your list price, and within $3K of the Zestimate. Of course there was a "dramatic market shift". Your house sat on the market for 8 weeks, and was finally bought. After you lowered your list price to match the market price (Which Zillow was pretty much spot on).
A few weeks earlier, it didn't sell for your asking price either. You were priced too high, and some market force brought the "point in time valuation" up. Yes, RE markets ARE volatile, subject to many things such as news of tax code changes, weather, economic news, etc etc.
Quote:
Oh, and my favorite closing attorney and staff love getting my contracts. They are clear and clean.
I'm glad your fav closing attorney loves your contracts. I only presume you are using the standard real estate contracts provided by the association in each state? Most RE's do.
That being said, I can write a nice, clean RE contract. It's easy, and will hold up to an attorney review:
Property at ( Location, house address, street, and city), will be sold by ( Current owner name) to ( Buyer name) for ( Insert Amount).
Very clean. I'm sure any attorney would love that contract.
I'm aware of that. my point is, using my example property, advertising the list price (that the property is in the MLS for), and then having your Zestimate directly below it at a $60,000 discount, with the disclaimer that this is "Zillows estimated market value" is going to mislead a consumer into thinking that they can possibly offer that lower price because zillow feels it is worth it (and stand a good chance of having their ofer accepted)
I could almost guarantee that if a buyer in my market offered the Zestimate price on a property they would never secure a property. ever.
What's the margin of error for your area?
I don't think it "misleads" consumers at all, anymore than a gut feeling from a RE agent called a "Comp".
I don't think it "misleads" consumers at all, anymore than a gut feeling from a RE agent called a "Comp".
i'll have to check.
but if a buyer asked for comps of that target property, i could pull up <90 days sold comparables right in front of them. assuming the listing agent for the property and the sellers priced it in line with the comparables (and werent financially or emotionally bound to a higher, possibly inflated price), they'd likely sell it somewhere within the comparable pricing. much higher than the zestimate amount in this case.
the fact that the zillow estimate can be modified by a consumer is enough reason for me to see no value in the zestimate.
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