Further Warnings About "Home Valuation" Sites Like Zillow

There recently was an article in the Wall Street Journal regarding how it has become a "parlor game" to go on these sites and see what your neighbors' homes are worth or what they sold for. The sites referred to were Zillow.com, and RealEstateABC.com. And, yes, it does feel like a game when you search these sites...they certainly cannot be relied on for serious information.

The article by Kevin J. Delaney failed to point out that the values that most people are finding and thinking are valid are way off! The side-bar of his article referred to three properties, their true value as reflected by a recent sale, and the values according to the two sites. I added three properties of my own to check validity as well. If you read my blog entry from back in February regarding Zillow, I decided to see if there were any changes...As of today (6/12/2006), my simple research confirms that Zillow's values were, on average, 45% TOO LOW!!! RealEstateABC's values were, on average, 31% TOO LOW!!!

I just need to reiterate how dangerous these sites can be if you are a seller or a buyer. If you rely on them for pricing your home, or for making an offer, chances are real good that you will be hurt. Please contact a professional Realtor to help you understand the values in your areas; there is more to valuation than just tax records, recorded sales, and comparables. Your professional Realtor will take all of those into consideration but will also know the current market conditions as well as specific characteristics of the property in question.