Can’t Trust a Zestimate – Conclusion
Estimating the value of your Tacoma home
Last fall I wrote a post about how my own home value was low on Zillow–about 32% at the time. Furthermore, they showed 3 bedrooms instead of 4, no view of Puget Sound, baseboard heating instead of gas, and about half the correct square footage according to the Pierce County assessor. I learned that you can claim ownership of your home on Zillow and submit corrections for any erroneous information, which I did. Over the past five months my Zestimate has creeped up $20,000, at a time when average and median prices in Tacoma continued to decline. Those corrections I submitted had some effect, in other words. I believe it is still 15% low.
The correct way to learn the value of your home
There is no substitute for research. Look at homes in your neighborhood that share similarities in terms of age of home, condition and size. The more similar the better. A Realtor can help you pull comparable properties and give you an estimate of market value. The bottom line is that websites offering an estimate will not know about the condition and may in fact have the details wrong about your house.
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