Home Appraisal Web Site

[AgustusM]

there is a website that starts with a Z - something like zippo.com (which isn't right because that is a lighter company) that gives home appraisals for entire neighborhoods with an overhead map type interface. I have used the site in the past, but can't find it today.

anyone know what I am talking about? know the name of the site?

[digamma]

www.zillow.com (http://www.zillow.com)

[AgustusM]

YES!!!!

thank you very much - proves once again what a useful resource FOFC is.

[Logan]

Just a warning...depending on the area, the prices they give can be WAY off.

[AgustusM]

Just a warning...depending on the area, the prices they give can be WAY off.

I am sure that is true - at least for me last time I used it - it was very close (within 10k) and after just looking at it again I think it is again pretty close.

[Eaglesfan27]

It can't even give any data near my new place :(

[CraigSca]

According to this site, I don't exist.

[wade moore]

It can't even give any data near my new place :(

Yeah, it has no data for my county unfortunately :(.

[Toddzilla]

www.zombo.com gives you much better results

[MJ4H]

haha is that site for real? all i get is little flashing lights and some dude saying WELCOME TO ZOMBOCOM YOU CAN DO ANYTHING AT ZOMBOCOM THIS IS ZOMBOCOM WELCOME

Is there anyway into the actual website or was it a joke?

[lcjjdnh]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombo.com

[Dutch]

Damnit, I always click on that damned site. http://www.fof-ihof.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/icon_rant.gif

[cthomer5000]

www.zombo.com (http://www.zombo.com) gives you much better results

Agreed. You can do anything at zombo com.

[TazFTW]

www.zillow.com (http://www.zillow.com)

Interesting, it has my address (I live in a condominium) and it lists it as a 1 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom, 320 sq. ft. that costs $1.57 million. That is a tad of an overestimation.

[cthomer5000]

Interesting, it has my address (I live in a condominium) and it lists it as a 1 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom, 320 sq. ft. that costs $1.57 million. That is a tad of an overestimation.

The prices listed for my area are way off base, like 50% of actual value.

[Swaggs]

There was an article about zillow in Newsweek this week. It said that things are much more accurate in major cities (they have been catalogued already, it seems) like San Francisco and Boston.

[Galaxy]

Man, scary how much information is public? Makes me want this stuff to become more private.

[cuervo72]

Man, scary how much information is public? Makes me want this stuff to become more private.

Maryland has home sales (w/prices) publicly accessible via the web.

[chinaski]

I imagine sites like this one... http://www.rmls.com exist for every state. The subscriber site, rmlsweb.com has a scary amount of information, much more than Zillow - but its spendy. Zillow has been dead on for my last 2 homes and my current condo. I love tracking all the comparable homes in my neighborhood, ive already made 10k on this place since November :)

[Ksyrup]

Each regional/city MLS site is searchable, I suspect. If you are a realtor, I believe you can become a member and have access to more info. But in searching for houses in Lexington the past month, we used lbar.com, the Lexington realtors' site. It's basically the same info they use to search for the homes you tell them you want based on your specific criteria. We came up with the same list our realtor did.

[Ksyrup]

On Zillow, my house is estimated at $13K less than I just sold it for.

[Toddzilla]

On zillow.com, my house is showing $400,000 more than I paid for it 8 years ago.

On zombo.com, I can do anything...

[Runtheball]

Zillow is amazing. I just put an offer on a home yesterday, and I looked at Zillow just now and I can see a close up aerial view from N, S, E, W of this home. I can't believe that!!! Is there a spy sattelite up there somewhere taking pictures of every house in the nation from each compass angle?

The home values are way off though. It seems to be based on the last assessed value, so it only tells you what the current owner paid for the place (or if there was an actual tax assessment, you'd see that amount). Nevertheless, it's an awesome resource if you don't put too much faith in the quoted home values.

[Ksyrup]

The home values are way off though. It seems to be based on the last assessed value, so it only tells you what the current owner paid for the place (or if there was an actual tax assessment, you'd see that amount). Nevertheless, it's an awesome resource if you don't put too much faith in the quoted home values.

Mine appears to be based on the sales prices of comparable houses in the area. Based on my research of sales in our area the past couple of years, the estimate for my house is probably pretty accurate. We've seen a spike recently, though, so we're getting a great price for ours.

[AgustusM]

yes mine are based on comparaisons - I bought this house for 395 4 years ago - it appraised (by real appraisal) last year at 705 and is now running close to 800.

My assessed value is still only 395

However we live in a suburb of SF and I understand this is one of the markets this site is good at.

[Subby]

Maryland has home sales (w/prices) publicly accessible via the web.
Fairfax County (northern virginia) makes sale/assessed value info freely available as well. We always check all of the other houses in the neighborhood to compare assessment increases come tax time.

[Subby]

Just to give folks an idea of how overpriced DC is...my modestly-sized house (http://www.zillow.com/search/Search.z?addrstrthood=6601+mulroy+street&citystatezip=mclean%2C+va&mode=search).

[Ksyrup]

Fairfax County (northern virginia) makes sale/assessed value info freely available as well. We always check all of the other houses in the neighborhood to compare assessment increases come tax time.

Same thing in Florida. I had the same list my realtor brought over in a fancy school-report folder when she met with us for the first time.

Assessed value here is way under market value. I'm still paying taxes off a house assessed at what I bought it for. It appears that they don't change assessments here until the property is sold (just guessing). With the homestead exemption, I'm paying taxes on around $100K value, when we've got a contract on the house for $220K.

[Subby]

Same thing in Florida. I had the same list my realtor brought over in a fancy school-report folder when she met with us for the first time.

Assessed value here is way under market value. I'm still paying taxes off a house assessed at what I bought it for. It appears that they don't change assessments here until the property is sold (just guessing). With the homestead exemption, I'm paying taxes on around $100K value, when we've got a contract on the house for $220K.That's great. Our assessment has gone up over 100% in five years :\

[Ksyrup]

It looks like where we're moving, they actively increase assessments as well. Florida's pretty anti-property tax as it is, so maybe that has something to do with it.

[primelord]

Zillow is amazing. I just put an offer on a home yesterday, and I looked at Zillow just now and I can see a close up aerial view from N, S, E, W of this home. I can't believe that!!! Is there a spy sattelite up there somewhere taking pictures of every house in the nation from each compass angle?

The home values are way off though. It seems to be based on the last assessed value, so it only tells you what the current owner paid for the place (or if there was an actual tax assessment, you'd see that amount). Nevertheless, it's an awesome resource if you don't put too much faith in the quoted home values.

If you just like the satellite pictures you should go download Google Earth

[primelord]

Just to give folks an idea of how overpriced DC is...my modestly-sized house (http://www.zillow.com/search/Search.z?addrstrthood=6601+mulroy+street&citystatezip=mclean%2C+va&mode=search).

Oh my. Are those numbers accurate?

[Ksyrup]

Just to give folks an idea of how overpriced DC is...my modestly-sized house (http://www.zillow.com/search/Search.z?addrstrthood=6601+mulroy+street&citystatezip=mclean%2C+va&mode=search).

Yeesh. Our new house 15 minutes outside of Lexington is 4 BR, 3 BA, and 4600 sq. ft., and costs less than half of yours. Amazing.

[Subby]

Yeah - our numbers are on the money - consistent wth what other houses have sold for in the past year.

We paid less than half that in July 2001...so, in the longterm...yay! In the short term...teh suk.

[digamma]

Just to give folks an idea of how overpriced DC is...my modestly-sized house (http://www.zillow.com/search/Search.z?addrstrthood=6601+mulroy+street&citystatezip=mclean%2C+va&mode=search).

I'm embarrassed to post mine as an example of how really, really overpriced LA is (my house is just over 1/2 the size of yours in terms of square footage).

[Subby]

FOFCers posting their Zillow info: Best.

Post it. :)

[Ksyrup]

Yeah - our numbers are on the money - consistent wth what other houses have sold for in the past year.

We paid less than half that in July 2001...so, in the longterm...yay! In the short term...teh suk.

Although our increase in Tallahassee wasn't this drastic (at least in terms of dollars; percentage-wise it comes close), this is one of the reasons we decided to move. We got in before the huge increase, but instead of trading up in town and losing the advantage of the extra equity, we traded up to an area that is probably 3-4 years behind Tallahassee.

Here's our current house:

http://www.zillow.com/search/Search.z?addrstrthood=2763+Whitmore+Court&citystatezip=32312&mode=search

Interesting...the amount went up $6K since yesterday. We've got a contract on it for $220K, paid $130K in March 2001.

[Ksyrup]

BTW, mine is 1550 sq. ft. with 3 BR and 2 BA.

[digamma]

FOFCers posting their Zillow info: Best.

Post it. :)

Compromising a bit...

Here's one from my street (http://www.zillow.com/search/Search.z?addrstrthood=8401+Kirkwood+Drive&citystatezip=Los+Angeles%2C+CA+90046&mode=search).

This house is under escrow right now, with a purchase price of about $100k more than it's listing here. We walked through the open house a few weeks ago, and were stunned at their asking price.

[Eaglesfan27]

Yeesh. Our new house 15 minutes outside of Lexington is 4 BR, 3 BA, and 4600 sq. ft., and costs less than half of yours. Amazing.

I'm also amazed. Our new house is about 15 minutes outside of Baton Rouge, and it is just under 4000 square feet and also cost less than half of that house.

[primelord]

My word. I heart St. Louis. Our house is essentially the exact same size as Chris' and was less than half as much.

[wade moore]

Just to give folks an idea of how overpriced DC is...my modestly-sized house (http://www.zillow.com/search/Search.z?addrstrthood=6601+mulroy+street&citystatezip=mclean%2C+va&mode=search).

I know where you live!