UPSCALE LIVING IN HAYMARKET & GAINESVILLE
Haymarket Homeowner HaymarketHomeowner.com
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
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Bull Run Mountain: Haymarket's Picturesque Backdrop Seven Fantastic Featured Properties in the Haymarket Area Community: Haymarket Area Holiday Happenings 2015 Business Spotlight: Custom-Created Holiday Events with À la Carte Market Watch: Should I Sell Now or Wait until Spring? July 2015 Real Estate Summary Published by
BRYAN GARCIA
"Haymarket Real Estate Guy" Associate Broker
EXIT Heritage Realty Haymarket, VA www.EXITgarcia.com 703-517-2574
Real Estate & Community News from Bryan Garcia, "Haymarket Real Estate Guy" 703-517-2574 Haymarket Homeowner 2015 | Issue 5
Does Zillow know the value of your home?
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which may not be reported publicly. e’ve all heard of Zillow. Custom homes with custom features, It’s probably the most popular real estate home outside of subdivisions are the most difficult to estimate. search web site out there. Zillow is The Zillow Zillow published a report for a database, or portal, of homes that all counties in the U.S. with varying are listed for sale by others. Homes Zestimate Median Error Rates in the Zestimate. that are listed on Zillow (with the The report, published 6/30/15, had exception of homes for sale by ownPrince William Country at a 4.6% er) are syndicated in through local Median Error Rate. What that means Multiple Listing Services (MLS) or is that half of the homes sold were within 4.6% manually input by real estate agents. of the Zestimate and half were off, up to 20%. While I will admit that Zillow has a nice Prince William County Zestimate Accuracy: user interface, its signature “Zestimate” can Within 5% of sales price: 53.4% be frustrating. I can’t overlook the impact Within 10% of sales price: 80.8% it has, not only on home buyers, but on Within 20% of sales price: 95% potential home sellers. Buyers may reference As an example, the Zestimate for a $500,000 a low Zestimate when placing an offer on a home sale could have been anywhere between home that is actually priced at market value. $400,000 and $600,000, but was most likely And, potential sellers may rely on an inflated between $450,000 and $550,000. For only about Zestimate to price their home. A Zestimate half of home sales, it was between $475,000 and can be below or above market value, that's $525,000. why it’s only an estimate. Zillow recommends you go in and update How accurate is the Zestimate? Zillow any inaccurate data on your home, even if it’s openly claims that it is only a starting point not for sale, to get a more accurate Zestimate. and is not to be considered an appraisal. We often see Zestimates changes as soon as a The Zestimate is based on a formula that is property is listed because accurate data is then calculated from public and user-submitted submitted. data and market conditions. It generally The bottom line: Zillow Zestimates can calculates based on the radius of the home. be very close, but they can also be way off. The However, different sections of the same best way to get the MOST accurate estimate of neighborhood, or abutting neighborhoods your home’s value is to have a licensed Realtor, can have different home values, so this can like Bryan Garcia, who knows the area well, do present inaccuracies. Also, homes may have a Competitive Market Analysis. upgrades or are maintained differently,
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