Zestimates – Are they legit? What about here in the Boise area? April 23, 2021 By Charlotte Charlotte:We’ve all seen the Zestimate. It’s Zillow’s estimation of your home’s worth. You can look it up on Zillow and see this number right now, but is it even accurate? Can you trust this, especially in a market as volatile as this?Zillow gets that information from an algorithm it’s developed, that looks at many factors, including the recent sell of homes in an area. And to be honest, it’s gotten a lot better over the last few years on a lot of areas, mainly because Zillow has amassed more and more data points on homes in every city.And while in many areas, this means that it is in fact more accurate. That’s not the case here in Idaho and here’s why. In Idaho, we’re a non-disclosure state. This means that once a home is sold, we do not disclose the transaction sale price to the public. This means that Zillow does not have accurate sales information on our area. So the reality is that Zillow’s estimation on your home’s worth is only as good as the data it has. It cannot accurately give you a Zestimate on your home without knowing the sales data for the homes in your neighborhood.Let’s take this one step further and let’s say that they did actually get the sales price on what homes sold for in your neighborhood. So okay, yes, Zillow knows what other homes sold for in your neighborhood. It most likely knows the square footage of your home and how many bedrooms and bathrooms it has, but does it know that you recently updated your kitchen? Or that you just put on a new deck? Or that the roof and furnace are only two years old? No, of course not.And to further complicate things, Zillow has a harder time estimating value if you live in a neighborhood that has varying ages of homes. Old homes and new homes mixed together or older homes with newer additions. This confuses the algorithm and muddies the waters. Bottom line, the best way to get an accurate estimate of your home’s real market value is to set up a quick appointment with a trusted real estate agent, like myself. I can take into account all the updates and work you’ve put in and get a real snapshot of your neighborhood and the current market conditions to give you much more accurate picture of your home.If you’d like to learn more about the real value of your home, you can text me or set up an appointment on my calendar. Share Leave a Reply Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Sum of 5 + 8 * Δ