Zillow Zestimates Huntsville Alabama
As Huntsville real estate agents, we disprove Zestimates on a daily basis with buyers and sellers. Huntsville home buyers and sellers routinely quote Zestimates as a gauge of market value. A Zestimate is just that…an estimate. And rarely correct. Rarely!
What IS a Zillow Zestimate? According to their website, “The Zestimate® home valuation is an estimated market value, computed using a proprietary formula.” This information is based on public and user submitted data, both of which can vary greatly in accuracy. No algorithm can quantify the value of a home!
Just how inaccurate is a Zillow Zestimate in Huntsville? According to Zillow statistics, it’s alot. The Madison County real estate zestimates have a median error rate of 9.2%.* That’s a HUGE difference. Without actually walking through a property, and using local data to sift through sales information, there is no way to attain a decent level of accuracy. School districts, condition of the home, location of the home inside the subdivision all matter when predicting a homes value. Neighborhood activity matters. It just isn’t possible for any AVM to value of a home with accuracy sufficient to make a housing decision, whether buying a home in Huntsville or selling. It is essential to have a comparative market analysis!
We aren’t “Zillow haters”. In fact, I believe they have created something pretty amazing. Love the clean look of their site. Love their mobile app and love their commercials 🙂 I have friends that work for Zillow. Does this mean I love their Zestimates? Uh…NO. Zillow DOES excel in their data collection of past ownership of the home and what the owner paid. I see that as a true value add to a buyer. As real estate agents, we know that one of our most complicated and important tasks is pricing the home, whether we are supplying the data to a buyer or seller. The Huntsville real estate market changes from week to week and is very neighborhood centric. Huntsville real estate market conditions have a tremendous play in valuing a home. We will keep you informed monthly on housing conditions in the Huntsville area.
Pricing a home properly is an art and science all rolled into one. It is not accomplished by trusting a computer generated value whether it is Zillow or some other online valuation tool. If you want an accurate value of your home always consult with a local Huntsville real estate professional or competent appraiser.
*Click here to download an Excel spreadsheet of the accuracy data from Zillow.
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