Zillow is being sued over its Zestimate tab, which should be a reminder that no algorithm can accurately price your home.
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Why is Zillow is facing a lawsuit over the use of their Zestimate tab? How does this affect you?
The Zestimate tab is their automated tool that gives you a valuation of your home based on an algorithm. The lawsuit comes from a woman whose home’s Zestimate was far below the actual market value of her home and what she was trying to sell it for. She’s claiming that the Zestimate value was a detriment to her sale.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of something like this, and I’ve talked with a lot of people in the past who’ve been confused about the difference between what Zillow says their house is worth and what they can actually sell it for.
Here’s the reality of the situation—no algorithm can accurately price your home. It can’t see the features and benefits of the inside of the home or the features and benefits of your neighbor’s home. At the end of the day, it’s next to impossible to replace actual eyeballs.
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An algorithm can’t account for your home’s features and benefits.
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Think about it—how’s an algorithm supposed to know the difference between two 4-bedroom, 4-bathroom, 2-car-garage homes located in the same neighborhood if one is pristine and the other is trashy? It will automatically place the same exact value on those two homes, which inevitably won’t be right.
If you have questions about the value of your home or want an accurate estimation of it, give me a call so we can walk through it together and come up with a price that will allow buyers to see what it’s actually worth based on the competition.
If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be happy to help.
