Is zillow.com accurate?

I LIVE IN A VERY NICE SUBURB IN MICHIGAN. WHEN EVER I TYPE MY ADDRESS INTO ZILLOW THE PRICE OF MY HOME COUNTINUES TO DROP WHICH CAN NOT BE TRUE. I HAVE PUT THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS INTO MY HOME FROM HARDWOOD FLOORS TO EXTERIOR SIDING. ZILLOW IS VERY UNACCURATE HOW IN THE HELL CAN THEY TELL ME MY HOME IS DECREASING IN VALUE WHEN THEY HAVE NOT STEP FOOT IN MY HOME. THIS IS REALLY MAKING ME MAD. FOR I HAVE ONLY PUT TIME AND EFFORT INTO MY HOME. ZILLOW DOES NOT HAVE THE CORRECT INFORMATION. SO PLEASE IGNORE ZILLOW.COM

No. Zillow.com is based on the info from other homeowners. The best thing to do is to go to the recorder's website for your county and compare the sale prices of the homes similar to yours that have sold lately. Prices have been going down all over the US. But some areas have been coming back up gradually. That is due to so many people selling for so little to avoid foreclosure, or actual foreclosure and the mortgage company selling to recover investment cost. My neighbor recently sold for $120K below worth to avoid foreclosure. You can imagine what the other neighbors were wishing for him as a Xmas gift! Plus, if you notice, zillow.com is actually off by about 3-4 addresses on their map.

It is a rough estimate based on home sales in that particular neighborhood.

It is pretty good in cookie cutter subdivisions but doubtful in areas where the housing is mixed. I am in an area of custom homes of widely varying ages. It was about 15% low on the neighbor on one side of me and does not recognize that the neighbor on the other side is likely to be a teardown the next time it is sold. I think it bases its values on square footage and lot size and presumes everything is homogeneous. It will not recognize improvements that you make because they don't show in the public record.

Zillow is a joke for estimating real market value. It undervalues my home by about 20%. I have a friend in Vegas that it overvalues their home by about 25%.

Using tax assessed value is not a good barometer for real market value. Some areas have caps on the amount a home can be increased, and tax assessed values have not kept pace with real market values. And some assessments are woefully out of date. Tax assessed, tax appraised, whatever the term used locally, doesn't equate to real market value.

I feel your pain. Here's another site to try www.cyberhomes.com

Now, on to the bad news. You live in Michigan, I live in Michigan (livonia) You are losing value in your home at an alarming rate. Here's the deal on values of homes....Putting siding on your house may increase the value of your home somewhat, but not as much as you think, the same with hard wood floors, or a roof, windows, etc. Why? Because a house is supposed to have siding, windows, a roof. and it's supposed to be in good condition. Out of all of those things, the hardwood floors might give you a little payback but not a ton. You never get what you put into the property. Your house is valued based on square footage and what your neighbors are selling their houses for, if they are selling their homes at a discount in order to get out, it's driving the value of your home down...it's called screw the neighbor. Bottom line is your house IS decreasing in value, they all are. Whether you live in Bloomfield Hills or Detroit everybody is getting hit. Your house should be worth approximately 10-12% less than what is was worth 2 years ago. Happy New Year.

Only use it for the sales in the area I was looking at. The sale's that I knew of along with mine were accurate.

Not just no, but Hell No! I have six properties, and not a one of them is even close on Zillow. I should know the value, I'm a Realtor.

NOPE, it's not accurate at all! If you want to know the true value of your home you can get an appraisal done or just call a real estate agent and have them work up a report of the home sales in your area.

Everybody's home value is going down, down, down. Doesn't matter what you've done to it. It's only worth what someone's willing to pay for it. Right now, you'd be lucky to sell it at a loss. The days of pipe dreams for the large selling price of a house are over. Although, realtors will still succumb to their own BS.

Zillow is takes county infromation to come up with values and its a very poor way to value prop. All the items you mention that you replaced did not add any value to your home. All homes have siding and need siding. Your hardwood floor make a nice selling item but adds little value to your home. A appraisal is based on square footage of your home and condition of your home and the selling price of the homes within 1 mile of your home. You can put in $100K into a $300K home in a $300K neighborhood and you will not get $400 out of it. Also if you live in Michigan the prop values are dropping and your home is loosing in value. Im sorry but that the way it is. Also homeowner always think their home is worth way more than it really is, I go through this on a daily basis with Mtg companies and homeowner.