gregorygarver.com

[SQD]

Because I took the real estate exam, and I can get on the MLS, but Zillow has it all--- It has recently sold prices, it has "make-me-move" prices, it has maps of all the areas surrounding, it has house specs, you can see the lending rates yourself, trends, sure it's not face-front pricing (which is your responsibility as a buyer/seller) but even as an agent, I cannot tell you other than fake self-glorifying that I can provide you with more information. You can hire an appraiser to get at another real number, but really, an agent's opinion is just that. Zillow will take over real estate eventually.Zillow is only a tool, but it shows how anybody can put the information together using such tools. It shows that real estate is not the bastion of secret information it used to be. Agents try to sell out zillow, but that's like saying a wrench won't fix your computer virus, it's a tool --for the proper application, one wrench is like another!Blame the agents, not Zillow, for the "make-me-move" harassments. The test I took was SO EASY, the bottom line is there's no magical person or formula to help you buy or sell your house. I think Zillow is impressive and just getting off the ground, well, "the sky's the limit"---it's got more credibility than most agents I know anyway.Glitches, that's all, but look at the concept, it'll catch up and lay waste, watch and see!

[bostonianinmo1657]

From my personal experinece, Zillow is a joke. I've sold properties and followed up on Zillow's valuations before and after the sale. As often as not the vaulations that Zillow came up with bore no relationship to reality. They had a correct sale price on one property but showed a value nearly 25% higher barely a month after closing. Another deal had numbers on the sale price that bore no relationship to what the true numbers were. And yet another failed to include the value of significant seller's incentives that I paid to push the deal through. A competent appraiser would have taken ALL of these things into account in using those as comps for the local area.Curious about their "Make Me Move" scheme I plugged in the details of my current residence. This is in an area where Zillow doesn't pull data from public records. Within 2 hours my phone was ringing -- local brokers were wanting to talk to me about selling my home. Needless to say, your information is turned over to brokers and realtors who subscribe to their "service" as a lead generator. Maybe I should call it a "scam" instead of a "scheme."Anyone who takes what they find on Zillow as gospel deserves what they get -- potentially meaningless information and a bunch of phone-spam.

[frankieb4100]

Zillow does not recalculate fast enough for the change in market. An agent can comp homes to the week, or day even. Zillow is far behind that. It comps homes in my area at around 225k, when none of them would ever fetch more than 180-190k. That site is a complete joke that gives sellers false hope, and makes the job of a Realtor harder. As a Realtor if you use that for comps, you Will be setting yourself up for a uphill battle. Stick to the mls. that is where the appraiser will pull comps from, not Zillow.

[alterfemego8883]

I didn't read your whole diseration, but Zillow's information is old and their system can not give you a realistic value because they do not have the system to sort properly. Their system doesn't see distance as a problem, nor features/amenties, size, location etc. They can't account like we do for the benefits of our experience and knowledge about a particular area. I think you're cutting yourself short.What we do provide is more current, accurate because we sort by style, size, location, amenties etc. Zillow can't fill out the forms. Zillow can't provide advise as to whether the deal is legit. Zillow can't protect the client legally. It's persceptive that we offer our clients. Our knowledge and expertise in our neighborhoods are valuable to our clients, especially buyers. I can tell you from personal experience, none of those website will sell a property. Most won't even cause someone to call on a house. I can tell you from my experience that most buyers will at some point contact a Realtor to help them purhcase a home. Oh yes, they will give them a list of the homes they think will fit their needs, but I can tell you from direct experience, that they never buy any one of those homes. It is always a home that the Realtor knows about and isn't listed on Zillow! My own house didn't provide calls or inquiries, legal ones anyway. What I did get was people asking for my bank account number, so they could wire me the money to buy my house, sight un seen! So I think you need to make yourself a list of what you know that can be valuable to a client and use it wisely.

[acermill3571]

You're entitled to think whatever you want of Zillow. I think it's a huge joke. Following the leads of other posters, I just pulled some reasonably recent sales out of my MLS and cross checked them against Zillow. I had to strap myself to my chair to keep from falling off from laughter. Some of the recent sales were off by as much as $80K, and in BOTH directions.If you want to base your real estate activity on Zillow information, go for it. I have a great stretch of beachfront in Death Valley you just might bite on.

[TerryS7936]

Zillow will take over the real estate industry when pigs fly.They are behind in prices.If you base your selling or buying on Zillow you will be disappointed.Good luck