Ahhh Zestimates. Agents love to hate them, but they’re just so tempting to check! But how accurate are they?
Zillow says most Zestimates are “within 10%” of market value. But at a $500k price point, that can mean a $50k discrepancy or more! Zestimates use a set algorithm which doesn’t take into account important factors like level of upgrades, recently completed projects, and added beds/baths or finished square footage that isn’t reflected on the tax record.
Another example – some townhomes are under condominium ownership, which means the property value is less. But a Zestimate can’t tell the difference between condo vs. fee simple ownership, so they value a condo TH the same as a fee simple TH, when in fact there’s usually a ~$25k+ difference right there.
