Have you seen the commercials where the kids are handing in homework assignments with ridiculous facts about saber tooth tigers and World War II to illustrate the undependability of information on the Internet? We all get it… the web is chock full of information that is not fact checked or properly sourced, and down right not credible. Then how is it that when they go online to look at home values, they believe everything they read? Web sites like Zillow and Redfin tell you how much a home is worth, but how do they do it? They’ve never been in the home. They may never have even been in that neighborhood before. But they publish home values like they’re the experts. Well, if you look closely they do put a disclaimer in there. For my area, Los Angeles, Zillow discloses a median error of 8.2%. Eight percent is a huge difference in pricing. It’s a home that’s worth either $540,000 or $500,000; $918,000 or $850,000; $1,620,000 or $1,500,000; $2,700,000 or $2,500,000. So now they’re not looking quite so expert-like, am I right?
If you want to determine your home’s value, call a Realtor; call me if you’re in Los Angeles county. Call someone who is knowledgeable about the area, who can come to see your home, who has been in other similar homes, who can give you an educated, expert evaluation.
