It's Online But Off Price
Inaccurate data often skew websites' home-value estimates
Some programs do add in other details culled from multiple listing services, appraisers, title insurers, and even corrected data from property owners who log on to the sites themselves. They then use mathematical algorithms to apply dollar values to, say, a whirlpool bath in the master bedroom or an oversize lot.
River view. Even then, the nuances of a given home or market often elude them. Take, for example, a luxury apartment near Boston's Charles River. "It has two roof decks that look out over the river," notes real-estate agent Jason Weissman, whose company recently sold the place for nearly 20 percent more than Zillow had estimated. "You couldn't see that information anywhere in Zillow's estimate."
You may soon, however, thanks to an enhancement that allows property owners to enter and correct details about their properties-data that will be cranked into future estimates. Other sites, too, increasingly allow users to adjust the estimates based on less quantitative data. They include RealEstateabc.com's sliding-scale system for comparing views, privacy, and the like or Cyberhome.com's "refine value" section, which allows users to add features like bathroom remodels.
Meanwhile, the sites say they're constantly upgrading their databases and algorithms to better track all of a home's attributes.
In fact, Zillow's improving accuracy may have actually helped real-estate agent Rory Siems close a deal on a multimillion-dollar home in California's Laguna Beach, which just went under contract for within 1 percent of Zillow's estimate. "My client checked the property on Zillow," Siems says, "and we used their estimate in our negotiations."
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