For you homeowners, do you use zillow.com ?

[Kaieye]

Do you find it fairly accurate?

Man, homes are expensive in SF but I am glad I invested here than other parts of California.

 

[daveshel]

I keep tabs on it for fun but it is so speculative, especially given that I have no plans to sell. I do find it a bit optimistic as of late.

 

[StageLeft]

For some reason it has record of our house at $10k less than we paid for it and about $5k less than listed (I believe we paid a touch extra above list to have some things added).

 

[Vette73]

Its pretty good. Will never be 100% same as KBB, nada, etc...


Gives you an idea of what values are.

 

[Dirigible]

I do not find it accurate for individual houses. It can be in the ballpark or way off. And I see inaccuracies in absolute price (listing things for 1/4 of what they'd go for, listing things as hugely more expensive than they'd go for) as well as the trends (for example, it says my house has gained $100k in the past nine months or so. My house has dropped in value during that time).

If you kind of look at all the houses in the various neighborhoods to try to figure an average, it won't be too far off, and you'll be able to tell which areas are pricey, etc.

It's best viewed as for entertainment purposes only.

 

[BoomerD]

I used to follow my home value through Zillow, but I had to stop. With the meltdown going on, it got to be too dammed depressing...

 

[mugs]

I used it to look around when we were buying the house, to get a ballpark of how many previous owners there were and how much it sold for previously. I don't really care how much the value changes once we're in the house. I'm not really gaining or losing anything since the value change will be relatively consistent with the other houses in the area. When I sell this house, I'll buy a different one. I see my house as a home, not an investment.

 

[TheBloodguard]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
I used to follow my home value through Zillow, but I had to stop. With the meltdown going on, it got to be too dammed depressing...

Checked yesterday, fairly accurate for my neighborhood...down 50 grand from what I paid for it...very depressing

 

[Gothgar]

I use it at work for the APN's + lot and track information

 

[MagicConch]

It is not very accurate in my area b/c the valuation of homes on my street varies greatly depending on view and zillow seems unable to account for that.

 

[PrinceofWands]

No, because I couldn't care less how much it's worth. I'm never selling, so why would I care? Other than taxation reasons, which are generally based on estimates far lower than anything I read online.

 

[BurnItDwn]

It's not very accurate in the markets I've looked in.
It was about 40% off on the value of my townhouse. It's about 20% off from the price of the house I bought last year. (both cases it was way over.)

 

[2Xtreme21]

It lists my parents' house for $105,000 more than we paid for it. Either they got a steal, or they're vastly over-apraising the house.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: 2Xtreme21
It lists my parents' house for $105,000 more than we paid for it. Either they got a steal, or they're vastly over-apraising the house.

WE? Did YOU make the down payment? Are YOU making the payments?

 

[woodie1]

When I lived in Florida I used it to value my house for selling. Thankfully I got out before the crash. It was fairly accurate. Where I am now there are not enough houses for it to have any info.

 

[PetunZ]

My coworkers and I have monthly competitions on house prices. We use the site to check the appreciation/depreciation and the biggest winner has to buy the biggest loser lunch for the day.

 

[rh71]

$439k avg price for my zip code. For starter homes. I am thankful we bought when we did and even then it was a stretch... how are new couples supposed to find that kind of cash, especially with stricter loans now?

 

[rh71]

oh BTW, there's also domania to find out the history of your home's sale prices. They started charging for the other services.

 

[Vic]

It's not very accurate. I wouldn't count on it for anything than just a reference.

 

[JulesMaximus]

My wife is a better source for current information on the housing market in our area.

 

[OutHouse]

i used to but the info on my house and the houses in my neighborhood are way off.

 

[lokiju]

Well when I check my house it says it recently sold for $20k less than I paid for it 6 months ago.

So I wouldn't trust it to much...

 

[Illusio]

It's pretty much hit or miss. I'm in laws are realtors though, so I just have them run me a CMA if i ever need to know.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: rh71
$439k avg price for my zip code. For starter homes. I am thankful we bought when we did and even then it was a stretch... how are new couples supposed to find that kind of cash, especially with stricter loans now?

that is why the houseing market is in the shitter. the builders knew they could get that price becuase the damn banks would approve just about anybody for a 300k+ loan.

now reality is setting in and dumbasses who bought more than they could afford are foreclosing.

I see the new housing being built around Denver and there is no fricken way i was or am going to shell out over a quarter of a million bucks for a damn cookie cutter home built by richmond, DR Horton and ilk.

 

[dud]

I don't trust Zillow and find it funny when people claim their house is worth other than what the market will bear based upon a website. We are in a period of deflating house values not seen ... well, ever. It helps to do comps on surrounding sales but many times the comps are higher than what the house is actually worth.