St. George Real Estate: Can You Trust Zillow to Estimate Your Home’s Value?



There are SO MANY  great St. George area homes for sale!  Click here to perform a full home search. If you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation to see what Buyers are actually paying for similar homes in our market.  You may also call us at (435) 767-9821 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today, on GoStGeorgeTV, we’re going to answer the question: “Can I trust the Zillow home price estimate?”

Zillow has become a wildly popular online tool to get a quick estimated value of home values. We estimate that eight out of ten Sellers we work with first go to Zillow to get an initial estimate for their home. With so many users, so many millions of homes, and having those homes spread across the entire United States, is it possible that the site could have inaccurate estimates? We’ll take a look at the three traditional values for a home and compare them with the Zillow value. 

1. The first value is the assessed value. This is the value that the Washington County assessor uses to determine how to tax your property. The assessed value typically falls on the low-side of a home’s market value. Not always, but most often. This value actually has little to do with your home’s true value. 

2. The second value is the appraised value. This value is based on the opinion of a qualified appraiser who will come out to inspect your home and establish a very analytical and scientific estimation. This value is often established during the mortgage origination process, but may be updated as the home undergoes renovations. While this value may not reflect “true” market value, it’s still incredibly important as it has the potential to make, or break, a real estate transaction. 

3. The third value is the market value. Definition: What a Buyer is actually willing to pay for your property! The market value is the most fluid value because it is dependent on the state of the current real estate market. The market value is what the buyer is willing to pay  for your home. Everything else is, quite frankly, quite irrelevant. 

These three traditional values are well established in the real estate realm. Recently, the “Zillow value”, or just about any other FREE online home value estimate, have emerged as a fourth value. Zillow, and these other systems, are what is called an “automated valuation model” that takes neighborhood statistics and tax data to determine a value of your home. Because Utah is a “non-disclosure state”, sales prices are NOT available to a company like Zillow. 

And because they lack that actual sold data, it’s highly likely that using Zillow as your guide will cause you to either, A. Overprice your home and sit for MONTHS, or..B – underprice your home and leave money on the table…yikes!  I encourage you NOT to trust it as a tool to estimate your home’s value.  If you want to play around with it, go for it! As a matter of fact, here’s OUR “AVM” (automated valuation model) site, feel free to play around there! www.DixieHomeValue.com 

Now, if you are looking for an accurate assessment of your home, I encourage you to reach out to credible real estate professional to receive the most accurate pricing of your home. 

If you have any more questions, feel free to call or e-mail us with anything Also, don’t forget to utilize our FREE MLS home search and home value report links on our website. And our full, detailed St. George Real Estate report is always available 24/7 so you can be the smartest kid on the block! Check it out here: St. George, Utah Real Estate Report



Our contact info once again, (435) 215-4333 or email us: larkingroup@gostgeorge.com

2 comments :

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