Real Estate Articles Worth Reading

Did you know that some of the listings you see of the popular real estate search portal known as Zillow are not really for sale? Yes it is true! So how exactly does this happen? Zillow essentially is a listing syndication tool that gets their data from third party resources. This makes the chances for information being presented on the site as not that accurate.

In a strange twist Zillow posts homes for sale of people who have become delinquent on their mortgage. The data is provided by a company called Realtytrac who tracks foreclosure information. Here is the rub and where the problem lies with this.

Zillow is taking homeowners who miss a mortgage payment or two and posting their homes as if they will be selling. This however is NOT the case. The vast majority of these people are not selling their homes. In fact most of them who have missed a mortgage payment will catch up in the next month or so.

Why Zillow presents this data is beyond me. While the information is public who does it benefit? How can posting these pre-foreclosure listings be of a benefit to anyone?

It is really frustrating for a home buyer who is chomping at the bit to find a home discover that homes they think are for sale are not actually available.

What this does is create additional work for real estate agents who constantly have to explain this to a buyer. If you are searching for a home and want up to the minute accurate information Zillow is not the place you should be looking!

There are other better options including a local Realtor. If you have not located a real estate agent to work with yet Realtor.com is another option.

Have you ever heard of what is called a Zillow Zestimate? For those who are not familiar with the term it is an online estimate of your homes value done by a company called Zillow.

Zillow among other things provides home values for buyers and sellers of real estate. Zillow in fact has a fantastic platform for looking at homes. They provide exceptional data that consumers can use to make informed decisions.

While the rest of what they do is very valuable Zillow estimates of value are extremely inaccurate! In fact they mislead consumers greatly. This creates real problems when consumers believe this data to be on the money.

Real Estate agents are forced to constantly educate their clients that the information that Zillow provides in not a good measuring stick of a homes value. I have in fact seen home values be off by as much as $100,000 over the actual market value and 100,000 under the value.

If you are relying on an online tool to value your home then you are making a big mistake. If you want an accurate assessment of your homes value consult with a local Realtor or appraiser who will be able to give you an accurate value.

The link above explains why Zillow is so far off the mark on their real estate values.