Comments on: I Wonder What That House Is Worth? http://www.marcresearch.com/blogs/merrill/2007/04/13/i-wonder-what-that-house-is-worth/ The thoughts and experiences of Merrill Dubrow Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:10:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Patrick Glaser http://www.marcresearch.com/blogs/merrill/2007/04/13/i-wonder-what-that-house-is-worth/#comment-7544 Patrick Glaser Sat, 21 Apr 2007 02:54:21 +0000 http://www.marcresearch.com/blogs/merrill/2007/04/13/i-wonder-what-that-house-is-worth/#comment-7544 The survey dork in me can see data mining potential for this site (as long as you know the respondent's address). By itself, you could estimate some interesting things- property tax burden (for example). But, connected with other variables- you might get some really unique measures- income vs wealth vs. behaviors (etc.). After all, wouldn't property be at least one measure of wealth? Food for thought. The survey dork in me can see data mining potential for this site (as long as you know the respondent’s address).

By itself, you could estimate some interesting things- property tax burden (for example). But, connected with other variables- you might get some really unique measures- income vs wealth vs. behaviors (etc.).

After all, wouldn’t property be at least one measure of wealth? Food for thought.

]]> By: Carrie B. http://www.marcresearch.com/blogs/merrill/2007/04/13/i-wonder-what-that-house-is-worth/#comment-7453 Carrie B. Thu, 19 Apr 2007 13:20:43 +0000 http://www.marcresearch.com/blogs/merrill/2007/04/13/i-wonder-what-that-house-is-worth/#comment-7453 My husband and I recently purchased our first home and used Zillow just to get some rough estimates of home values. We actually found a different site - www.trulia.com - to be even more useful, as it provides a great deal of information on neighborhoods, comps, etc. Also, www.neighboroo.com is an interesting resource that a colleague passed along to us as a source of interesting (if not terribly granular) neighborhood statistics. Happy hunting! My husband and I recently purchased our first home and used Zillow just to get some rough estimates of home values. We actually found a different site - http://www.trulia.com - to be even more useful, as it provides a great deal of information on neighborhoods, comps, etc. Also, http://www.neighboroo.com is an interesting resource that a colleague passed along to us as a source of interesting (if not terribly granular) neighborhood statistics. Happy hunting!

]]> By: Brian Ottum http://www.marcresearch.com/blogs/merrill/2007/04/13/i-wonder-what-that-house-is-worth/#comment-7451 Brian Ottum Thu, 19 Apr 2007 13:07:55 +0000 http://www.marcresearch.com/blogs/merrill/2007/04/13/i-wonder-what-that-house-is-worth/#comment-7451 Zillow does a great job of estimating the value of homes. But, like market research, the quality of the result is dependent on the quality of the underlying data. Zillow gets good data from my region. I've sold two houses myself and recommend that others do the same. Real estate brokers seldom earn their excessive commissions. Zillow and the like will help FSBO's gain in power. Zillow does a great job of estimating the value of homes. But, like market research, the quality of the result is dependent on the quality of the underlying data. Zillow gets good data from my region.
I’ve sold two houses myself and recommend that others do the same. Real estate brokers seldom earn their excessive commissions. Zillow and the like will help FSBO’s gain in power.

]]> By: Paul Kirch http://www.marcresearch.com/blogs/merrill/2007/04/13/i-wonder-what-that-house-is-worth/#comment-7282 Paul Kirch Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:43:40 +0000 http://www.marcresearch.com/blogs/merrill/2007/04/13/i-wonder-what-that-house-is-worth/#comment-7282 Zillow is a cool site, though it doesn't really provide accurate comparables. I just sold my house in Seattle, WA and when I looked on Zillow it was comparing low-end builders in addition to all of the other homes such as mine which was actually built by a very high-end builder. It showed a price range lower than what the market actually was bearing for a house like mine. In fact, I sold my home for sufficiently more than Zillow showed. That being said, it was a great tool to show the area and to get an idea of pricing since, as you eluded, it showed the prices of neighboring homes. Going back to the issue of the comparable pricing, it also showed far too large of an area to be accurate. If you could narrow down by neighborhood or other criteria, the tool would be much more powerful. It is a great tool for a lot of things, but I got more value from the MLS listings and from my Realtor. Zillow is a cool site, though it doesn’t really provide accurate comparables. I just sold my house in Seattle, WA and when I looked on Zillow it was comparing low-end builders in addition to all of the other homes such as mine which was actually built by a very high-end builder. It showed a price range lower than what the market actually was bearing for a house like mine. In fact, I sold my home for sufficiently more than Zillow showed. That being said, it was a great tool to show the area and to get an idea of pricing since, as you eluded, it showed the prices of neighboring homes. Going back to the issue of the comparable pricing, it also showed far too large of an area to be accurate. If you could narrow down by neighborhood or other criteria, the tool would be much more powerful. It is a great tool for a lot of things, but I got more value from the MLS listings and from my Realtor.

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