Transcript:
Hey there, it’s Casey Denman from TaxSaleAcademy.com and welcome to our weekly question segment. This week’s question comes to us from Corey.
Alright, Takeisha sent in this week’s question.
Is it safe to use Zillow for quick estimates of value?
Ok, so this is a tactic that many people utilize. And in some situations, if you have enough margin built in, you could probably use Zillow and be ok. But it’s also an approach that could easily come back and haunt you at some point.
Zillow’s estimates of value cause more aggravations to Realtors than most people can imagine. While they are an easy ways to get some sort of number, my suggestion is to stop looking for easy because easy is not always accurate. The Zillow numbers are inaccurate in many situations. Especially in an active market, for vacant properties AND . . . get this one . . . for distressed properties. That value of $150,000 might be true for that property, but Zillow doesn’t know that the property needs $80,000 worth of work to make it livable.
I’ve had probably a dozen people over the years tell me that Zillow said it was worth X, so they bought it based on that number. Then the conversation transitions to the property not being worth nearly that much and trying to find a way to get rid of the property without losing their tail.
The only way to value properties is to do it the correct way. And that’s through proper due diligence and by reviewing comparable properties, which by the way, doesn’t take much more time than going to Zillow does once you know what you’re doing.
With all this said, there are some features I do use on Zillow – it’s a great way to find old listing info, properties listed in the area and that kind of thing but in short, don’t rely on Zillow for your valuations. You’ll get yourself in trouble sooner or later if you do.
Takeisha, I hope this answers your question. If you have a followup or if anyone watching this video has a question, please feel free to leave it below this video or any of our other videos right here on YouTube.
Thanks so much for watching. And as always, check out TaxSaleAcademy.com to grab a copy of your free book or if you’d like to take advantage of the most detailed and step by step training we offer thorugh The Tax Sale academy. See ya next time!