My House is Worth What?

[Catchawave]

Poll question: My House is Worth What?

Click on the Zillow link:

http://www.zillow.com /

Type in your current address, get the results, then

Vote in the poll.

This is fun for renters, and those of you who still live with your parents/roomies/in a van down by the river! Zillow will appraise every address!

You can help kick this thread by posting if the appraisal came in higher or lower than you expected, maybe the city/state your in, if you'd like.

I don't recommend posting your zillow results link, too much personal information will be exposed.

Have fun! I was pleasantly surprised I'M NOT DOOMED. I'll vote later so I don't embarass myself

Poll result (184 votes)
< 100,000	(12 votes, 7%)	Vote
101,000 to 150,000	(22 votes, 12%)	Vote
151,000 to 200,000	(29 votes, 16%)	Vote
201,000 to 350,000	(56 votes, 30%)	Vote
351,000 to 500,000	(30 votes, 16%)	Vote
501,000 to 750,000	(19 votes, 10%)	Vote
751,000 >	(16 votes, 9%)	Vote

[K8-EEE]

1. No. Hollywood, CA - $457,000, down almost $100,000 from last year!

Glad I didn't buy last year!

[DesertFlower]

8. the house we used to live in sold for $470 last year.

now it's worth $362. i wonder how the owners feel. i sold in for $250 in 2002.

[Lorien]

62. My home in Orlando is down 130K from last year

to $335k. I bought it for $155k, so I'm not feeling too bad.

[distantearlywarning]

2. Pittsburgh, PA here

Up about $15K from last year. Not too bad for a $100K house originally.

[NightWatcher]

3. mine 117K, a savannah rental duplex. Anyone wanna buy it for 115$k

[JackintheGreen]

4. Suburban Philly

up about 24K.

What's all this I hear about a housing crisis?




I just invited god's wrath, didn't I?

[DesertFlower]

5. arizona.

$446 -- 2 years ago it was $761. every house in this area has dropped.

[MadrasT]

6. Philly suburbs

JackintheGreen!

Up $15,000 since we bought 3 years ago. Not planning on selling (probably ever), but nice to know.

[tjwash]

7. San Diego...470000 and Santee...270000

Still a hell of a lot more than I paid for them, or owe on them.

[DesertFlower]

10. i know that feeling. mine is worth $446,

but our mortgage is down to $80,000.

[Catchawave]

17. We sold our first house in San Diego 30 years ago for....

$53,000. I just checked that address....worth over a million now. Coronado, if that helps. Sigh, I'm depressed

[tjwash]

19. Our neighbor bought their house in the 60's for 30000.

Sold it or 600000 when he retired, and moved to Fresno.

[slackmaster]

22. My mom bought a house in La Jolla for $35 K in 1966

Her parents, part of the Iowa Disapora in Arizona, thought she was crazy to pay that much for a house.

She sold it for $178 K in 1978.

The house last sold for $995 K in 2004.

[DesertFlower]

31. oy vey. nt

[DesertFlower]

30. i would love to live in san diego, but

i would have to take 1/2 the house i have now. i'm on 2-1/2 acres on the side of a mountain. imagine that in san diego?

[Catchawave]

55. Why I moved to Virginia's waterfront....

and triple what I had in S.D. Though, still not a brazillonaire

[Kittycat]

9. How do I know that is wrong???

Because my house is 3400 sq ft. My neighbor's home is 4000sq, plus another 1600 in unfinished walkout basement. Their house has more upgrades and options than mine, yet my home is showing valued at $140K MORE than their home. They paid roughly $75K more than we did - so I doubt it. There are inconsistencies like that all down my street. Maybe it has to do with the fact that our homes are only a few years old? Also, our builder is still building our home - in our neighborhood for about $12K more than we paid (that's down around 30K from last year though).

[DesertFlower]

12. zillow is not accurate.

i've found the same thing.

[slackmaster]

18. Zillow is accurate in areas where there are a lot of recent comparable sales

It's weighted heavily toward those.

Other factors commonly used in the models include comparisons based on tax amounts and rates; hedonic models (based on details of known property characteristics; and home price indices or "trajectories".

In areas with few recent sales comps, Zillow's results are pretty weak.

[DesertFlower]

23. we haven't had a sale in this area

in years. that's probably why.

[slackmaster]

24. Yup, Zillow is pretty useless in areas like that

It's worth what you can get for it.

[Lorien]

65. It's way off in my neighborhood

recent sale prices are 35-120K over the "Zestimate".

[WCGreen]

68. Zillow is accurate if your county has good information on your property...

[slackmaster]

94. Most counties have huge holes in their data

To add to the problem, data vendors "seed" their files with intentionally inaccurate records in order to detect unauthorized resales of the data.

If your property happens to have been affected by seeding, it is going to be way off.

[WCGreen]

102. Luckily, our county keeps excelent records...

[Rockholm]

91. Only using sales data is flawed.

Zillow is unable to factor location. Assessments are a more accurate tool, but doesn't really work is a property has been in the same family for years. Being a waterfront community, Zillow is way off in my town. Way off.

[OnionPatch]

92. Zillow is off on our neighborhood as well.

I can see that they are pricing all the homes in the area similarly, although the neighborhood right next to us is not nearly as "desirable" as ours. Our neighborhood is on a hill while the neighborhood next door is on flat land. It's unbelievable how much difference that makes in home prices here. Everyone wants to be on "the hill". (It's the view.) I can see that on Zillow, the "hill-home" prices are not high enough and the flat-land houses are priced too high.

I wouldn't bet the bank on your Zestimate.

[slackmaster]

93. The same could be said for any automated valuation model

None of them are very precise unless a property has changed hands repeatedly (called "repeat sales index") and is also in a neighborhood that has dense recent sales of similar properties.

If you live near a waterfront, there are probably a lot of high-end properties. AVMs fail there too.

[noamnety]

76. I see the same thing.

There's a house down the street from us that we always call the Vatican because it's so ridiculously huge - and it has an inground swimming pool and a tennis court. And it's about 20 years newer than ours. It shows as 30k less than our house!

[Debi]

11. Ehhh I don't think so.

Looking at my property tax bill that I got in today's mail - it's assessed at more than that web site listed.

[slackmaster]

20. Maybe you can get your tax reduced

All you have to do is prove through sales comparables that your house's present market value is significantly less than the assessed value.

Good luck, if you try it.

[Debi]

28. My preference is that my home has a higher market value

and it does.

[DailyGrind51]

100. Does your local paper publish property appraisals by neighborhood?

If they do, you can bring the published appraisal with you to your assessor's office, because that number represents the average unbiased appraisal value by neighborhood.

[Debi]

101. The site also says my house is 400 sq. ft. smaller than it is.

So I'm not so sure here.

[DailyGrind51]

105. A house is really only worth what you can close the sale on!

[Debi]

108. What does that have to do with the size of the house?

They were off by 400 sq. ft.

[csziggy]

13. Zillow will not show my address!

Maybe they do not do farms. Maybe it is because our house is too new to show up. Whatever, it wants to show me the house to the north, a place down the road, the house across the street, but not mine.

[DesertFlower]

37. when my house was new it didn't show.

even now, it looks like vacant land, i have to scroll up to see the house.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

59. My house is 108 years old and it doesn't show. n/t

[csziggy]

81. But does it show your address?

I put in my address and it keeps switching for other nearby places.

[slackmaster]

14. Zillow shows mine at $465 K, Freddie Mac's Home Value Explorer says $492 K

One other reputable automated valuation model shows $587, but it's hurting for data due to slow sales.

None of the models know anything about the improvements I have done to the property.

[XemaSab]

29. It doesn't have improvements

or stuff like landscaping.

Our house is okay; our yard KICKS ASS.

[slackmaster]

36. It would know about "permitted" improvements that changed the size of the house

I've put about $15,000 into a large retaining wall and yard improvements, and done about $15 K worth of electrical and plumbing upgrades, but none of that would show on public records.

[Contrary1]

15. It says mine is worth $175,000...

We would be lucky to get $140. No home in my area has sold for anywhere near that, ever.

[JFN1]

16. We sold a house in Portland in 2005

for $196,000 - zillow says its worth $225 now...

[Delphinus]

21. Mine showed it was valued at

$72,000 - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No way in hell!

[chemp]

25. They are WAAAY off!

listed as 3 bed, 1 bath
Actually 4 bed, 2 bath.

Paid 108k
Their value $237k

If the tax man saw it: $325k

[XemaSab]

26. We've gone down about 10K from 3 years ago

Not great, but not horrible either.

[DesertFlower]

40. i'm down $300,000. nt

[AlCzervik]

27. i only care what i can sell it for in 5 years from now.

i bought in 2000 and paid $209,000, chucked a pool and deck in the backyard and have added about another $25,000 in various upgrades over the past few years, right now it's "worth" according to zillow $335,000 which i think is wrong, that's too high. anyhow in 5 years when i sell my house be almost paid off anyhow and if i walk out of here with my $209,000 and another 20% i'll be thrilled, no ecstatic, no fucking psyced.

[DesertFlower]

41. but, where will you go?

won't you have to buy another house or pay rent?

[AlCzervik]

50. to the bay area, we'll rent a year here, a year there and figure out were we want

to live for good. % years is the time table because that's when my daughter will be (hopefully) going off to college and this city is not the place i want to be lving in for the rest of my life, we always knew it was going to be a long term stop over.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

32. Can't get mine. It doesn't come up in the search.

It has been a while since they have done property valuations in my area. I'm sure my taxes will go up when they do. I know we paid an average amount for the area.

[Catchawave]

48. Try your zip code ?

I've done my street, city, state...and just the zip brings in the same amount

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

58. Did that... doesn't come up.

It can find the zip code for the city across the river. I was able to zoom into my area starting from the neighboring zip code, but it still doesn't have a property value listed for my house.

[emilyg]

33. ga. 3999

who wants to buy?

[Trailrider1951]

34. Holy Moly!

$192,000! Not bad for a house I paid $77,000 for. I'm in Central Texas, by the way. The Austin area is growning like a weed!

[Thothmes]

35. Really don't care what my house is worth

I own the deed to the house and property and plan to die here. What it is worth is a problem for my heirs

[Spike89]

38. $203, up 60K in a year

Hope it's true, but then it is kinda inaccurate in the details, doesn't show major remodel in 1998 when we actually moved the house onto the lot from another location in the city, doesn't show the heat pump, or even the upstairs. Oh well, we bought the house at auction for $1,500.00, it cost about $25,000 to move and "install", the new lot cost $40,000, and the updates ran about $10,000, so we're in it for only about $75,000.

[Dukkha]

39. wrong, unfortunately

I just took it off the market this summer from lack of showings and it was listed below it's value here

[Hekate]

42. Hm. Seems to be a bit off. I know the houses on my street, which ones should be worth more than mine

... due to upkeep or remodels or being 2-stories rather than one. They seem to think all the houses are worth the same.

Hekate

[Catchawave]

43. Zillow is showing you "comps"

That is, the average selling price in your area. You may be assured that means, "as is". My favorite! So fire your realtor and his/her pricey "staging" suggestions.

Now sell, or refinance, or take out that equity loan for home improvements!

[GoesTo11]

44. Guess I won't cash out and retire early

Down about 15% over last 3 years. A lot like my 401k. Damn.

[Terran]

45. Can't be right

The amount shown is $60K--there's no way it declined 33% in three years, not in out local market. It's also described as 4 bedrms, 2 bath, 1800 sq feet--all wrong.

[kcass1954]

46. $286,000. Two years ago when we refi'd, Zillow said it was worth $320,

and the bank appraisal was $325. I thought that figure was way too high then, and I still do. I'd be surprised if it was $250, and that wouldn't kill us - the LTV would still be 60% or so.

[Catchawave]

52. Sounds like you did good !

My Zillow came in at 400k above my mortgage balance. I'm happy

[kcass1954]

80. We've done very well here. We paid $125 eight years ago.

We focused our home search on one little community, and it took us nearly 5 months to find this house. Our town has the best schools in the county, and is currently on Family Circle's list of 10 Best Towns for Families.

In six years, though, we're out of here. When the last child is out of high school, we're going to retire and leave. Enough with Florida!

[Snarkturian Clone]

47. Center City Philly, up $14,000 from last year. NT

[tbyg52]

49. They think mine's worth $146K, but they also think it's 2100 sq ft

It's really just 1700 sq ft usable, as the upstairs isn't finished - just an attic with a floor.

Houston suburbs, paid $93K in 1999. Tax assessment at $128K, which I still think is high - we're in a kinda ratty rural neighborhood with wells and septic tanks. Have 8/10 acre, though. (Which I don't really want - we wound up outside city limits because we had eight dogs at the time. We are down to four through illnesses and old age, and I am hardening my heart and *not* getting any more, because I wanna get out of here and back to civilization.)

Our old house in San Diego, where I wish I still was, is $361K. I've seen it as high as $450K, so somebody or somebodies took a huge bath. We sold it in 1991 for $160K, having paid $90K for it in 1981. The people who bought it from us sold it a few years later for $145, so they took a smaller bath than the more recent people. It's 1100 sq ft.

[WillowTree]

51. Worth twice what I ipaid for it 9 years ago.

I'll settle for that, though it's not for sale.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

53. Not bad for a shitty ranch-style

Bought our inner SE Portland house 3 years ago for 146k (appraised at 196k--motivated seller!) Put no money down because the seller, our landlord who had rented it to us for years, gave us a credit based on our status as good renters.

Last appraisal (just before housing market collapse) for taxes: 226k.

Zillow (with numerous comparable sales in the Portland area): 247k.

We'd sell except that, even with the windfall, we wouldn't have enough to buy another.

Anybody who buys this dump is going to raze it to the ground and start fresh. We are under no illusions that the house is worth anywhere near that much: it's the corner lot with the giant Douglas firs, or the location on an almost-dead-end street.

[lonestarnot]

54. None of them are worth a shit. Everything is relative.

They may say something is worth X on a piece of paper, but unless someone is in a forced moved, who's gona buy it? LOL

[MorningGlow]

56. Static in the past three years--better than tanking, I suppose

We overpaid 2 1/2 years ago ($115K); now it's listed for $119K. It actually should be worth more, considering all the remodeling and upgrading we're doing, but who knows when we'll reap the benefits...

[Sanctified]

57. I don't know if I believe it, it estimates my home about $120k more than I paid for it 5 years ago.

I would love to think my house was worth that much but I know it's not.

[Catchawave]

61. Zillow does comps, that is....

just averages what your neighborhood has sold for recently.

Not scientific, just averages.

We all may be doing better than we think, I'm waterfront, so I know I can sell my home for MORE than the zillow price.

I find comfort knowing that

[Sanctified]

63. It has my house valued as the highest on my block.

Maybe they know something I don't like I have oil or gold underneath my fish pond.

[slackmaster]

98. Zillow cannot see your view even if it thinks you have one

There may be (or not, depending on where you live) be some kind of code in their database that indicates that your property has some kind of a view, but the system has no way of gauging quality or value of that view.

[Indenturedebtor]

60. I didn't even post mine. The numbers are COMPLETELY wrong

We had a foreclosure in our neighborhood recently that went for 125k. Supposedly my house is worth 217k though I bought it for 200k a year ago. Fact of the matter is that we couldn't possibly sell it for 217k. It needs so much renovation it's rediculous, and we have no views as many of the places here do. Add to that the fact that no one is buying here in Tucson. We have friends who have had houses on the market for over a year.

Zillows algorithms were probably set up to deal with the now non-existant housing boom. I don't believe it for a second

Oh btw, my car is worth 80 gajillion dollars. Why? Because somewhere there's some rich idiot on Ambien who would probably give me 80gajillion for it if I asked nicely...

[Telly Savalas]

67. Yup. Zillow has our house at $180K and we bought it for $110K several months ago.

There's a bank-owned vacant next door that Zillow has at $180K also. It's been on the market a bit over a month listed at $70K, but nobody's rushing to buy it.

Zillow is bullshit.

[mwooldri]

87. These numbers are very amusing.

We live in a 23 year old singlewide on a rented lot. Apparently that's worth $142,500 in Greensboro, NC... in the east end too.

Compared with the tax records: they say the taxable value of the land is $7,500 and the building has $0 value...

Mark.

[Indenturedebtor]

89. Yeah I think zillow is currently full of shit n/t

[cliffordu]

64. $7,000

'83 Airstream International 34'

[Shine]

66. It's up waaaaay more than what we paid for it back in '96.

plus, we're never moving, so that's the good news.

[Catchawave]

69. Zillow does comps, I repeat, comps.....

Which means, your price, depending on location/location/location...may be higher, or lower, compared to what houses sold for around your zip area.

Look at the comp map, how are YOU doing compared to your neighbors?

[Telly Savalas]

71. The "comps" don't disclose the actual sale price

but rather give inflated "Zestimates" for the houses.

[K8-EEE]

75. Whao I got the cheapest house on the block!

It's also the smallest though -- but the nicest too (I'm prejudiced!)

[Naturyl]

70. About $500 as scrap metal. Alternatively...

I might have to pay to have it hauled off the lot.

[KharmaTrain]

72. This Isn't Quite What My Bank Said...

A couple weeks ago I was meeting with "the bank" and the VP I work with ran a program they have on my property that came out about $30k lower than what this site showed for my address. I'm gonna email this page to him and see what he says...maybe can get an explanation for the discrepency. Fortunately, I've owned the property for over 15 years and I'm still way ahead of the game.

[LostinVA]

73. The house I'm renting is apparently worth half a million

It has no insulation and things break ALL the time. Of course, it's on 20 acres of land. That's where the only value is.

The one we're buying is worth $277k, and we're getting it for less than that. A year ago, it would have sold for $100k more.

[K8-EEE]

74. Egads my parents bought for 30-K in 1966, now worth 913-K

Jeez! I was born too late. This is in Studio City, CA

[GoneOffShore]

77. Northern Liberties, Philly

And very interesting it was too.

[and-justice-for-all]

78. Indiana...$42,400

How sad. All the money we have put into it and it has made no difference in its value.

[K8-EEE]

83. Oh hey, this type of thing is totally APPROXIMATE!

Obviously a nicer house brings more $$ than a crappy one, they are just tellin gyou the median price, more or less.

My rule of thumb is only do the improvements YOU really enjoy on a day to day basis....and that you can afford, then you can't go wrong!

[Lisa0825]

86. I feel your pain.

I put in all new plumbing, almost all new wiring, new roof, central ac and new central heat, and the loan officer said that was all "maintenance" and didn't add to the value. Only cosmetic improvements like new kitchen or bath added to the value.

[and-justice-for-all]

109. I think that is utter bullshit too...

ANY improvement should be added to the homes value.

I did all the things you did and I also did the new kitchen and bath, what I got was two shitty appraisals.

[slackmaster]

97. Have those investments improved your quality of life?

If so, then it has indeed made a difference in the value of your home.

[asdjrocky]

79. Hi-ya Wave!

134k here. I live in the foreclosure capitol of America. (Or at least Ca.)

Edit to add:
At least it's paid for.

[ladywnch]

82. Boulder county, colorado here.

came in about 50K less than the last appraisal

[mnhtnbb]

84. First house bought in 1976 in Studio City for $63,000. Last sold in 2005

for $1.4 million. Somebody has put a second story on it--and put in a pool.

That was the first house bought with ex-husband. When we sold it in 1978, we bought a new custom
house in Woodland Hills for $154,000. That house is now worth $766,000 (no changes)and he still lives there.

And I got a $12,000 settlement when I divorced the first husband in 1979. Ack!



The house we're renting in Chapel Hill is worth $400,000 (having burned down our house that
Zillow says was worth $571,000) while we add-on, remodel a house in the same neighborhood
that is valued by Zillow at $100,000 less than what we paid (before the addition/remodeling).

So, a lot of these values are out of whack.

[Lisa0825]

85. zillow = my tax assessor's value = $72,360. Unfortunately.....

when I tried to refinance to pay off a debt and fund improvements, the bank's "market survey" said it is only worth $49,900, which was not high enough to qualify.

[slackmaster]

95. You could probably get your property tax lowered

At least temporarily.

[sakabatou]

88. The house I'm currently living in is... $1,362,000

[Tektonik]

90. pretty useless tool

[slackmaster]

96. The purpose of the Zillow site is to sell advertising space and get people thinking about

Buying or selling. Note that the ads you see mostly have some relevance to the realty business in your area. That's not a coincidence.

It seems to be pretty good at selling ads. The company is doing rather well for a startup.

[guitar man]

99. I wouldn't sell the front gate

....and the end of my driveway for what they're telling me my whole property is worth....

[bunkerbuster1]

103. Haven't been there in a while...

The property values historical chart is worth a look.

My assessment seems about right, if perhaps a tad optimistic (around a quarter-mil.)

[tburnsten]

104. WOW!

My landlord is out of his mind! He wants 150,000 for the place! Granted it has a big backyard for an in-town place and there are two parks right nearby, but the house itself is a wreck and the yard isn't taken care of at all! He just recently got around to trimming down that jungle back there! Plus the neighborhood is terrible, between the mentally ill fellow across the street who stands there staring at the house most of the day to the drug dealing that is regularly happening nearby to the guys who show up looking for strangers every so often, I would never pay 150K for the place.

[fifthoffive]

106. Well -

The tax assessment info and last purchase price are correct, but many of the details of my house are incorrect - size most notably. I'll not be updating that information.

[lumberjack_jeff]

107. Gag, choke.

Chah, right! $400,000 HA!

That's ludicrous. This house is nice (I built it myself) but NO ONE would pay 400 large for it.