I think Zillow is great for getting a ballpark estimate of your home’s value… but that’s it.
They certainly are not accurate enough to determine a list price for your home.
Admirably, Zillow actually tells you how accurate/inaccurate their estimates, called Zestimates, are.
Zillow can look at their Zestimates and then at what the homes actual sold for to determine the error.
For the Phoenix-Mesa, AZ metropolitan statistical area;
- 36% of Zestimates were within 5% of the actual sale price
- 61% of Zestimates were within 10% of the actual sale price
- 84% of Zestimates were within 20% of the actual sale price
- Overall, Zestimates had a median error of 7.5%
Let’s say this another way.
- 16% of Zestimates were off by over 20%! Double Yikes!
- 39% of Zestimates were off by over 10%
- 64% of Zestimates were off by over 5%
- Zestimates were normally off by 7.5%
Zestimates are fine as long as you know how accurate/inaccurate they are.
Declining Accuracy
By the way, Zillow used to say that in metro Phoenix 28% of Zestimates were off by over 10%. Now they say 39% of Zestimates are off by over 10%. I appreciate their honesty.
As long as you know.
Forewarned is forearmed.