Posted by River City on November 22, 2008 at 05:54:25:
Big V, I believe you are correct about Zillow pricing per square footage.
Jimmy, the only properties that move in 30 days in my market are foreclosures.
Who to Believe? - Posted by Steven-Utah
Posted by Steven-Utah on November 20, 2008 at 09:30:53:
I am looking at a property through foreclosures.com, it gives me a market value of $162K, with a range of $143K to $181K with a equity of $102,000 (63%) and a loan amount of $60K.
Now I go to Realtor.com it gives me a range of $192,478 to $399,224 with an average for the 7 properties that have sold with in the last 18 months of $252,632.42.
So who should I believe?
Foreclosures.com $162K
or Realtor.com $252,632.42
Thanks for your input.
Steven-Ut
Re: Who to Believe? - Posted by River City
Posted by River City on November 21, 2008 at 05:45:08:
Zillow has one of my houses “zestimated” at about $40,000 higher than the comps around it, and they are true comps. So, I would guess that Zillow is a little high.
When you have a spread like you have from Realtor.com (over $200,000 spread), in my opinion, this is not even a good estimate. A home valued at $399,224 cannot be a comp for one valued at $192,478, and vice versa. It appears that what they are doing is just giving you a range of values of the properties that sold in the last 18 months and this range of values has nothing to do with the value of the subject property.
I would suggest that you contact a realtor and ask them to give you a good estimate, as they do have access to recent comps around the property you are interested in.
Zillow is usually a little high - Posted by Truth Teller
Posted by Truth Teller on November 20, 2008 at 13:12:34:
zillow.com great ZESTIMATES and map based searching of the city
But best is call a broker and ask them to do a CMA
Realtor.com - Posted by Rich-CA
Posted by Rich-CA on November 20, 2008 at 10:51:22:
is asking prices not prices at which they got an offer. Those would drop off Realtor.com once the closed records are uploaded.
Re: Who to Believe? - Posted by michaela-CA
Posted by michaela-CA on November 20, 2008 at 10:17:09:
Either way it sounds like a good deal, if the numbers are correct. But I would never rely on any of those numbers, but find my own comps.
Also, with that much equity, are you sure that the 60K that’s foreclosing isn’t maybe a 2nd?
Michaela
Believe your OWN Eyes - Posted by Jimmy
Posted by Jimmy on November 21, 2008 at 08:56:38:
an 18 month old “comp” is worthless in most markets today. same goes for 4-6 month old “comps” in Austin, and other spots.
tell me about the deals that have transacted in the past 30 days in your market.
RE markets usually don’t move this quickly, but the “normal” stability is gone in many places
Re: Who to Believe? - Posted by BigV
Posted by BigV on November 21, 2008 at 06:39:28:
I believe Zillow calculates price in $'s per square foot. So, 1000 sq. foot house that sold for 100K may be considered to comp 2000 sq. foot at 200K based on price per sq. foot. Not saying this is the right way to comp, but it explains why 192K house is used as a comp for 399K house.
Zillow’s Comps? - Posted by Joe
Posted by Joe on November 26, 2008 at 12:33:45:
Zillow will let you see the actual comps. How accurate are those? I just put them into a spreadsheet then do my own algorithm to find my comp price. I’ll select all the houses within a certain distance. I’ll depreciate the price if it was sold a couple months ago. I’ll adjust for square footage differences, etc. But, I have no idea if Zillow is giving me all the comps available. Anyone know?
I would use them - Posted by Wayne-NC
Posted by Wayne-NC on November 21, 2008 at 07:38:34:
My method in my area (very important) is to first find out the statistical significance between the asking and selling price using the largest sample that I can get in both price range and history, usually several years up until recent. I have found that to be 5% (also confirmed by local realtors and I always make a point to ask them that "off the cuff question), so I use 6 or 7 to be on the more conservative side (standard deviation of the mean for the math types) after I do a drive by and/or walk around and I get a pretty good indication of an eventual selling price. That is not a theory that seems to work at this point, it has worked for me and may be worth looking into. Of course individual results and vary and there is no guarantee of future result. There, that’s my disclaimer. I thought I would throw that in.
Re: Who to Believe? - Posted by Steven-Utah
Posted by Steven-Utah on November 20, 2008 at 11:05:39:
How do you find your own comps?
The way I do mine is:
Style
Location 10 to 12 blocks away
Size +10% and -30%
age +/- 15 years
and price per square foot
With that much equity, are you sure that the 60K that’s foreclosing isn’t maybe a 2nd? Not sure but I will find out.
Thanks for the info
Re: Believe your OWN Eyes - Posted by Joe
Posted by Joe on November 26, 2008 at 12:35:31:
Unless you know the depreciation in your market. Say it’s been about 2%/month for the last couple months. A 4 month old comp is fine then - you just have to knock 8% off the price for it.