Zillow Zestimate is a popular tool for those looking to buy or sell a home, but they aren’t always an accurate source. The Zestimate evaluates the price of a house based on data such as comparable homes in the area, public records, MLS listings, and information on the current housing market. This means that the estimate is only as good as the data it is taken from.
If a home has been off market for a long time and has been renovated, the estimate of the home’s current market value may not reflect those changes. Alternatively, if a neighborhood is well established and has not had many sales recently the estimated value could also be off.
Zillow says themselves that there is a 5% average margin of error for their appraisals, but this means that only about 50% of the time they are within the sale price range of the home.
Zillow can be useful for getting a very general idea of what your home may be valued at, but don’t take it as gospel. Zestimates should be taken with a grain of salt and only used as a tool, not a deciding factor. The most accurate way to see your home’s worth is to use an appraiser.