Why zillow "can't get no respect"

Zillow is a mega huge website with a bunch of real estate data. The site has some fun tools.  It pulls data from a variety of places, the risk of which is a crappy quality of data.  I do take a peek at zillow when I'm working on pricing a property, not because I value the "zestimate", but because I know my client will have looked there.

Most of zillow's real estate pricing is based on using comparables, similar to how real estate agents and appraiser consider value.  But zillow hasn't figured out how to account for things like busy streets, unique locations and views (unless all the comparable properties share that feature).

My house, for instance, is on a busier street. So zillow always thinks its worth quite a bit more than I.

I had a recent listing sell, and found the zillow information to be rather amusing.  The house was listed at $307,000. We closed the sale at $320,000 just weeks ago.  Zillow's zestimate lists the value at $299,872.  You'd think, within a certain amount of time, that big daddy data masters, zillow, would take the sales price from an open market listing as the value. The commonly accepted definition of real estate value is" what a buyer will pay and a seller will take, when a property is sold on the open market".

Maybe zillow's definition is different; what a buyer will pay and a seller will take minus 6.25%?

Have you been eyeing your zestimate?  I'm glad to give you  a more informed opinion. Give me a call at 503-312-8038 or email leslievjones@gmail.com.