Pinetop White Mountain Blog

Good Afternoon Everyone,

Every day we are bombarded with all kinds of information in relation to Real Estate.  Some of it is true, some of it is speculation, and a good majority of it is much to general to be taken as truth.

I was reviewing my listings on some of the other sites where my listings are posted.  I am always very careful about putting information on websites to make sure it correct and up to date, but there is one site that particularly irritates me and that is Zillow.

Zillow has these wonderful things called Zestimates, giving the public an estimated value of a particular property.  I really have a problem with that because they have never seen those properties.  They have no idea how it compares to other properties in an area or what kind of upgrades the home might have, and yet they have the audacity to tell the world what they think it is worth.

They are wrong most of the time! I looked at my listed properties today and there was only one of them that was even close to the actual value.  My issue here is that this site is where much of the buying public goes for information and then they come in to my office with a price point that they are willing to pay for a property.  It becomes very difficult to convince then that the zestimate value is wrong.

Please, when you are looking at property don't take the Zillow Zestimate value as gospel.  It may truly be wrong.  Your best bet is to hook up with a good Real Estate Professional and ask them what they think about a property.  Much of the online information on these free public sites is out of date and just wrong.  They don't update effectively and many of the properties you might find are going to be sold or perhaps the property is no longer on the market. 

As a REALTOR® this false or misleading information bothers me.  Unfortunately it isn't something I can do anything about.  I can control the information about my own listings to a point, but a word of caution, don't take everything you see or hear in relation to Real Estate as the gospel according to Zillow. The site does not update as often as it should and you can't take everything you see at face value.  

Have a wonderful week, until next time....!

Sandra Paulow, Associate Broker, GRI, SFR, REALTOR® 928-242-0300

Your High Country Connection for the Listing & Sale of Real Estate!