Zillow Anyone?

[AmyBoz]

Anyone ever been to www.zillow.com ?

It's a website that shows you the buying history of the homes in your neighborhood. Okay, well, not just your neighborhood, but you know what I mean. It gives an estimate of what a house is worth and then shows you what it sold for within the last certain amount of years.

Very interesting...especially good if you are looking to sell and wondering what other homes in your area went for.

[Greebo]

They tend to be hit or miss. Around here, they're 10-15% too high. In other areas, I've heard of them being way off.

[Neeley]

I love just looking at the views from above. I never realized my pool was not straight until I saw it on Zillow. Now it bugs me knowing my pool is slightly sideways.

I also like to look at the places my dad use to live.

I have noticed the prices are a bit on the low side for my area. It said my house was like $20K less.

[grneyegrl]

wow i just looked up my house and all u see is the sound barrier..lol.. and the arial view is oooooooofffffffffff trees, too funny

[krissyre]

Yes, I've visited it several times -- like Neeley, I like the aerial views of places, and I like looking at the house I grew up in, my grandmother's house, etc.

But the photos are way out of date -- we had to tear down a detached garage on our property (as a condition of our getting home owner's insurance -- it was like the Leaning Tower of Pisa) last December, and it still shows in the picture on the website.

Also, it says that our house has gone up in value 18K since we bought it last November. I'd love to believe that, but here in Boston where the market is still tanking? Not likely.

[AmyMCGS]

I just tried it for my street- all these houses were built in the last five years. For my house, it has the wrong number of baths and bedrooms, making their estimate lower than what we paid. Interesting, though.

EDITED TO ADD: I went back and played some more. You can "claim" your house and edit the details. I thought about doing this just to see if how the value changes, but I'm not sure they need to know those details of my home. Has anyone else done this?

[Michelle]

I've been there many times. It's very accurate for my area.

It will come in handy when my parents move back to MA in the next few years

[Telephus44]

Since we just bought a house - yes, we have. I find the values pretty accurate, give or take $20K. I also like the sale data, although we found more info just by searching the land and deed records (the house we bought was purchased by the owner in 98, but they refinanced and put an addition on in 2003, so we were able to see what their new mortgage was for).

[sdrjeolsen]

Been on before too. Found that prices were way under the real value where we lived. Our house sold for 40K more than Zillow said it was worth. Also said our neighbors, who had the same floor plan, had a much higher value home than ours. I think it is hit or miss. But the sale data is good info, when it sold and for how much, very interesting.

[Libby]

Is this site for the US only?

[The Muse]

I think their estimates are on the high side. You can get a more accurate idea of what your home would sell for by looking up your town's assessor database online. You can search for recently sold homes in your town/neighborhood that are similar to yours.

[Russ]

MIL told us about it and said she found a link on there somewhere were you could see who the neighbors were. I couldn't find it anywhere.

[nodmicks]

I think it is way off here. It has our 2600 sq ft house on 10 acres at 47,000. That is WAY less than it cost 10 years ago when it was still Amish and not sided,reroofed, the deck added, driveway done, and supplied with electric, water and plumbing. Seeing what neighboring hobby farms have sold for I'd say 47,000 is way wrong.

[FrugalMomof3]

I just tried it for my street- all these houses were built in the last five years. For my house, it has the wrong number of baths and bedrooms, making their estimate lower than what we paid. Interesting, though.

EDITED TO ADD: I went back and played some more. You can "claim" your house and edit the details. I thought about doing this just to see if how the value changes, but I'm not sure they need to know those details of my home. Has anyone else done this?

I have claimed my home on zillow and also added pictures and my upgrades we did with the recent remodel and stuff. Can't believe my home is worth that little When my neighbor just sold their house for $160,000 (we are attached) and our home has a finished basement, central air, half bath and theirs didn't.