Keller Williams Realty
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How Accurate is Your "Zestimate"?

Posted By: Alan Donald In: Sellers
Date: Sat, Nov 21st 2015 2:23 pm

How Accurate is your "Zestimate"TM?

Very often we go on a listing presentation with an estimate of value that we've put a lot of thought into, and the homeowner pulls out the "Zestimate"TM to argue for a higher list price. 

So, how accurate is the "Zestimate"? We went right to Zillow to find out. Here it what Zillow discloses on their website about the accuracy of their value estimates for South Carolina:

State StateName Zestimate Accuracy Homes on Zillow Homes with Zestimates Within 5% of Sale Price Within 10% of Sale Price Within 20% of Sale Price Median Error
SC South Carolina 4 2,076,639 1,748,711 37.70% 61.80% 81.30% 7.10%

Source: Zillow

According to this table, 18.7% of the time their estimates are out by 20% or more, and 38.2% of the time they are out by 10% or more.  Are you willing to price your home according to your Zestimate and leave 10% of your equity on the table? Or price it so high that it stays on the market for a long time because buyers see it as very overpriced?

The truth is that most online value estimates are just a "rough estimate" of your home's price range, as they don't take into account the "unique" features that every home has, which may include: Lot premium, upgrades, additions (not included in area recorded in the county records), quality of the street, views, floor plan, condition and many other "subtle" factors that buyer take into account when they assess the "Value Proposition" of a particular listing.  To get an accurate market value estimate, call your REALTOR. Most Realtors offer this service for FREE! Call us on 843-900-0155 to get yours. 

A crucial factor for selling at the highest "market price" is speed to contract (Days on Market). Statistics show that a home that stays longer on the market is likely to get a lower percentage of the LAST list price than one that sells quickly. This is logical, if you analyze from a buyer's perspective: If the average time on the market for the particular neighborhood is 60 days and the home they are looking at has been on the market for 120 days, buyers may think that either a) the home has something wrong with it; or b) that the sellers must be desperate.

Either way, a "late" offer is likely to be much lower than an "early" offer for a home that just hit the market!

One of the key added value services that we provide to our seller clients is to help price the home strategically to maximize their equity, market the property aggressively to maximize buyer traffic and adjust the "marketing mix" in a timely fashion to avoid having to deal with a "stale" listing. This is why on average we sell our listings for 5% higher price and 47 days sooner than the average Realtor in the Charleston area

Call us on 843-900-0155 to sell your home for top market price!

"Zestimate" is a trademark of Zillow Corporation.