I have never met a Realtor who liked Zillow’s Z-Estimates.

From an agents perspective the information is sometimes out of date and not accurate. This creates massive problems when it comes to helping sellers price their homes correctly. For those agents who have sellers not willing to price their homes to sell (vs sit) because of what Zillow said their home was worth…share this article with them:

Are Internet sites like Zillow and Trulia a valuable tool for buyers and sellers trying to gauge a volatile real estate market?

Or are the vast resources on the Net a simple matter of too much information?

Take Zillow’s home value report for the first quarter of 2009, for example. It revealed that values in Redding, which encompasses Anderson and Shasta Lake, declined 34 percent from a year ago to $197,193.

Wait, though, Zillow doesn’t rely solely on recent or comparable sales. The site contends there’s more that goes into values than what a house sold for recently in a particular neighborhood – it eliminates the bias present in median sales prices.

Alas, with the toxic nature of today’s real estate market, values are changing almost daily, so Web sites like Zillow can be very pedestrian in a fast-paced market, area experts say.

So go ahead and use them but don’t take the information to the bank.

“The problem is that it’s so volatile, so any price is really a guess,” Chico State University economics professor David Gallo said. “The market has got to settle down, and as long as it doesn’t, there might be a pretty good spread for prices on individual properties in neighborhoods.”

Gallo said the person with the best information is probably your local real estate agent.

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Redding real estate agent Fredericka Martin said home value Web sites aren’t too accurate.

“When I list a property, I want to stay ahead of the curve; we can’t list it for what it’s worth today,” Martin said.

(Note: Some of Zillow’s biggest detractors are real estate agents and appraisers.)

For a true value in today’s market, Martin suggests using a real estate agent who lists or sells a lot of property.

“Get a comparative market analysis or broker price opinion from an active agent,” Martin said.

And ask your agent to see copies of any market data he or she starts advocating, Martin said.

“You have to be able to support that opinion with valid data,” Martin said.

Greg Lloyd, former president of the Shasta Association of Realtors, agreed that sites like Zillow are off the mark.

“It’s not their fault, they’re not trying to mislead anybody. They just don’t have the hands-on local knowledge,” Lloyd said.

Lloyd said a Web site can’t give you the specific features of a home that could affect the price.

Joe Rodola, a consumer credit counselor, has been trying to sell his Redding home for several months. Rodola also teaches a monthly first-time homebuyers class in Redding.

Rodola, whose wife is a real estate agent, said the more information buyers and sellers can get, the better. He will click on sites like Zillow and Trulia.

“I think you need to use several sources because prices are so volatile . . . . Then you go to your real estate agent who has the multiple listings capabilities,” Rodola said.

A multiple listing service can point to homes that have closed in the neighborhood over the last six months, for example.

“It (listing) can give you an average price based on the recent sales,” Rodola said.

SOURCE: Redding.com

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