How Much is Your House Worth?

If you have ever wondered what your home is worth, you are not alone. At some point, it’s something that virtually every home owner wants to know. Likewise for new home buyers. Now, there is a new way for you to find that information for free through Zillow.com. But users need to be careful when using their system as not all of the data used by the service is accurate. And virtually everyone should be concerned about some of the privacy ramifications associated with it.

Zillow is currently in public Beta. This means that anyone can use it but they are still working out the kinks. Users can simply go to their website, enter an address, and within seconds they get an estimate of the property value.

Zillow is compiling its information from a variety of sources. These include both public record information and from information sold to them by data collectors. Both types of data are riddled with inaccuracies. For example, in California where property tax increases are severely limited by law, it is not uncommon for tax records regarding the size of a house to be inaccurate after a room addition. Since tax increases can only be based on the amount spent on remodeling, county assessors take their time in updating other information on property records.

Because of this, it is important that you really know your home when using Zillow. After entering your address and getting the estimated value, you can update the information on your house and get a new estimate. You can include the value of upgrades, remodeling, room additions, etc… This information will only be available to you, and can not be saved to Zillow, but it will allow you to get a better idea of the value of your home.

So far, Zillow is receiving mixed reviews. Values in some areas of the country seem to be more accurate than in others. Even so, one of the more useful features associated with the website is the ability of users to view the sale amounts for comparable homes in their area.

The downside of Zillow is that it creates some real privacy concerns. It not only allows you to get an estimated value on your home, but anyone who knows your address can get the same estimate. Some people might say that your home’s value is nobody else’s business.

The service also provides satellite photos of properties. While these are relatively low quality, they allow anyone to get a general idea of the layout of your home. This is not necessarily something that you want to give the person that is casing your home for a burglary.

Zillow has collected data on about 60 million homes, and has enough data to offer estimates on about 40 million homes. Estimates are probably best viewed as a starting point for a conversation with a professional estimator. They should not be relied upon as an accurate estimate of a homes value. In areas where the company’s coverage is spotty, there is a significant possibility that estimated values will be off by 20% or more.

Even so, for a free service, homeowners may find Zillow useful when considering selling, purchasing or refinancing.

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