Today, the internet is something we all use for anything from booking flights to social media, to becoming more educated on things such as buying or selling a home.  I remember when Zillow first came around when I was in the mortgage industry many moons ago, however that website is now a powerhouse platform for people to go to when buying or selling a home.  With this evolution of Zillow, has come some controversial parts such as Zillow be able to provide “Z Estimates”.

We all think our home is worth more than it probably is and when buying a home we all want the value to be lower to help with purchasing it.  However, with the implementation of Zillow providing “opinions” on home values, has also come some challenges to the real estate industry.  Consumers are researching things online and then thinking it is the “gospel” when trying to buy or sell.  This creates some challenges for real estate agents when trying to have a conversation about what to potentially list their home for sale.  Unfortunately, “z estimates” are an opinion from a computer, however when determining value you have to take into consideration things that the computer is not necessarily give credit for (ie- flooring updates, kitchen updates, bathroom updates, added items that increase value into the home and anything else that is not in public records).  So keep all this in mind when taking a look on Zillow.  The tru value of home is determined by a person (appraiser) who takes things into consideration that a computer might not be able to.  Even getting estimated values from a licensed real estate agent will provide a more precise home value, versus a computer.