I am sorry, I know that you questioned me as to why I have not posted your home for sale on the Zillow.com site. You have made it clear that you want your home to be advertised in every means that I can get my hands on. It is important to you to sell your home so you can continue with your plans. But, if you would give me a few minutes to explain why I have not - or will not post your home or my other listings that I have for sale on the Zillow Site.
I want to sell your home - I can and WILL sell your home but it is hard for me to bring the buyers into your home when I have another agent (Zillow) screaming and picketing infront of us that your beautiful home is worth less, alot less than we are asking as well as the actual "comped" value.
It's not that I don't think that Zillow is a great toy, but to use it as a means to my advertising ? I can not subject you, my seller to the questions that will be raised by potential buyers and please don't get me wrong, I have posted a listing or two on Zillow and I will tell you why. NO ZESTIMATES. But your home is special, you see Zillow is stating that your home is worth $100,000.00 less than what we are asking. Oh, I know - Zillow has a disclaimer that these are only "Zestimates" and that no serious buyers would belive them and yes, I am aware that they have said more than one time that they are not setting "actual sales price" and that their Zestimates are somewhat off. But, don't worry, no one believes them.
Now that you are selling your home and you are in the market to buy something else we are scouring every site for a home that meets your criteria. I know - we have gone to many houses together and the last home that we went to see you found on Zillow, how great... Ohh, the asking price is $90,000 more than the Zestimates? Oh, well ignore that Zestimate price and go in with a full asking price!
Serious comment: My sentiments exactly. Saved for the magnifcent 7 April showdown. Lar
Posted by: Larry Cragun | April 13, 2007 at 02:55 PM
Wow Lar, a serioius comment and a shot at the magnifcent 7. Woo hoo!!
Posted by: Christine | April 13, 2007 at 04:37 PM
Christina, Bravo! I'm seeing them off here on the East End by literally MILLIONS of dollars! Currently, I'm going into contract with a buyer on a property at nearly $700,000 over their barf-timate. md
Posted by: Michael Daly | April 15, 2007 at 12:12 PM
Great blog! I thought the "Happy Birthday to Me" was going to be my favorite until the Zillow was revealed. I am enjoying it very much and look forward to reading more:)
Posted by: April Groves | April 16, 2007 at 12:11 PM
Good job Christine.
I had a couple of buyers I'm working with want to make offers based on a "Zestimate".
I told them both to look up a house they had recently sold and see how close the "Z" was to their sale prices. Off by tens of thousands of dollars.
Both bought their favorite houses for a good price but both were also far above the "Zestimate".
Posted by: Jim Lee, Knoxville Tennessee REALTOR | April 16, 2007 at 01:57 PM
Micheal - I hear ya. Thanks for your email!
April - Thank you! I look forward seeing you around more!
Jim - I agree!
Posted by: Christine | April 16, 2007 at 03:37 PM
Bravo Christine!
I reluctantly posted a listing on Zillow several months back for a very special property on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The value that the Zestimator put on the property was more than $1M less than what the unit sold and closed for (sold yesterday). I just have no faith in their product in the New York area...yet. I do like some of what they are doing as far as transparency but accuracy has to be a number one priority and it obviously isn't.
Keep up the good work.
Posted by: Douglas Heddings | April 17, 2007 at 09:08 AM
Douglas - I couldn't agree with you more. I have nothing against posting a listing onto Zillow if the Zestimates were not there. Case Closed. I do find that alot of homeowners are going to the site and "playing" with their numbers, their neighbors numbers and so on - (In fact, I know more homeowners who know of Zillow than agents).
Thank you for stopping by - you run a great blog over there - I read it everyday!
Posted by: Christine | April 17, 2007 at 09:45 AM
Ugh ... We have the "other" problem ... Our "zestimates" are about $50k MORE than market value, for whatever reason. This is really hard at a listing appointment - dashing some Seller's hopes of great fortune.
Posted by: Mariana Wagner | April 17, 2007 at 11:54 PM
Mariana (One N) - I have seen a few of those myself and when the homeowner see the "magic" number try convincing them that the "Zestimate" is worng - you think at that point they will realized that the disclaimer says the numbers may be off?
Posted by: Christine | April 18, 2007 at 11:05 AM