Zillow

[karm43]

Has anyone used Zillow.com to see what their house is worth? I wonder if this sight is accurate.

[StrawberrySu]

karm, I used the local auditor's office. They had projected values for 2011, and the values were much less than what I owed, so that was good for me. I do think Zillow has high values.

[keepsmiling]

It's certainly not right on my block. It doesn't take into account what shape your house is actually in. My neighbors did mega improvements to theirs and it's probably worth at least 50K more than mine, but mine shows as more than theirs by 20K.

I'd say, use it if it's to your advantage to do so, but otherwise, get a realtor in for an appraisal.

[karm43]

Ya I noticed my neighbors worth alot less. It actually appraises for the exact amount I owe. Thats where they prob get the figures. Some of the houses that are much nicer are worth less then mine. However as long as mine is not showing equity I guess thats ok.

[karm43]

I just do not have money for a appraisal. Any ideas?

[momofthree]

You can have a realtor do a CMA (I think that's what it's called) value for free for you.

Zillow values are usually way off. Our tract-home neighborhood is up against a gated luxury community (our property shares a common wall with their community), and those luxury homes are priced at the same values as our tract-home houses. Zillow doesn't seem to take any details into account except home size when estimating values.

[nohoneymoney]

In my experience ZILLOW is a crapshoot. Sometimes high, sometimes low and even on target at times but you cannot depend on it. You have three ways to get a reasonable value instead of an appraisal. A Broker's Price Opinion, BPO, can be used to price a house and it is the most formal behind an appraisal, i.e. trustees will trust them. Find a friendly broker and get a BPO for free. If the first broker says no, try another broker. Like an appraisal a BPO adds some human intelligence to simple comparative market analysis numbers. Next in formality would be a comparative market analysis, CMA. Any real estate agent can do one and many agents will do it for free. This is probably the most common way to value a home. Finally, you could get a real estate agent to print out all home sales in your area for the last six months and those that are currently for sale that match your house size, etc. Once you have comparable sales, you can then make judgements on how to adjust the price. You may have to drive around to see what they look like. You could use ZILLOW to get relative prices to scale other house prices to yours. Not easy but doable. Which ever way you go be upfront with the broker and/or agent and tell them why you need it. Once you have a value for your home that you and your lawyer are comfortable with you can continue planning your BK. Let the trustee pay for the appraisal. Best of luck.

[BKorbust]

In my experience ZILLOW is a crapshoot. Sometimes high, sometimes low and even on target at times but you cannot depend on it. You have three ways to get a reasonable value instead of an appraisal. A Broker's Price Opinion, BPO, can be used to price a house and it is the most formal behind an appraisal, i.e. trustees will trust them. Find a friendly broker and get a BPO for free. If the first broker says no, try another broker. Like an appraisal a BPO adds some human intelligence to simple comparative market analysis numbers. Next in formality would be a comparative market analysis, CMA. Any real estate agent can do one and many agents will do it for free. This is probably the most common way to value a home. Finally, you could get a real estate agent to print out all home sales in your area for the last six months and those that are currently for sale that match your house size, etc. Once you have comparable sales, you can then make judgements on how to adjust the price. You may have to drive around to see what they look like. You could use ZILLOW to get relative prices to scale other house prices to yours. Not easy but doable. Which ever way you go be upfront with the broker and/or agent and tell them why you need it. Once you have a value for your home that you and your lawyer are comfortable with you can continue planning your BK. Let the trustee pay for the appraisal. Best of luck.

This advice is right on. Zillow is a crapshoot at best. The best way to value you home is via an appraisal. If you can't afford one go the CMA route. Contact a couple of local Realtors and get several different opinions. Usually a real estate agent/Realtor will do this at no cost. I'm a real estate broker and regularly do CMAs for folks going through BK. On a side note you may or may not want to tell the real estate agent/Realtor whet the CMA is for. Some may not be willing do complete one at no cost for the purposes of BK.

[LadyInTheRed]

I agree Zillow is a crap shoot. But, that's what was used for my lien strip. If the lender decided to fight the strip, I would have had to get a real appraisal. But, my house was so far underwater the lender would have been wasting money to fight it. If the valuation is for exemption purposes, it will be the same thing, except that, unlike my lien strip petition, your petition won't even say where you got the value. If the trustee or another creditor asks, you'll have to support the value. If nobody asks, the value you list will stand.

[shark66]

Zillow came up with 270K on my house.

Amount owed on first mortgage was 245K.

Appraisal from a professional appraiser came at 200K...

My experiences only.

Good luck to us all.

[DYLAN150]

Looked up my house, it's pretty close to actual value.

[HHM]

Yep, zillow is a crap shoot, it really just depends on how homogeneous is your neighborhood. The more homogeneous, the more accurate are zillow values. I don't use the number generated by zillow, but I will look at the recently sold to get a better sense.