91–100 of 265 posts
You would think real estate would prove to be one of the few real life fields where machine learning would be able to predict the prices pretty accurately. You have: 1. List price 2. "Favorites" on the MLS. 3. Square footage 4. Bedrooms 5. Bathrooms 6. Sold price for nearby properties 7. Sold price for nearby properties relative to their list price And the list goes on... Is it that difficult to predict? Literally th…
As long as there are already many anecdotes, I'll just add mine (I've always taken the zestimate as Zillow's working model that probably needs lots of tweaking; it's not like the MLS's are eager to give them data). Anecdote: My folks live in a golf course neighborhood where their house is not on the course, and it's smaller than the rest. However, my folks house is valued based on these extravagant golf-course side p…
I'd also like to know how or why Zillow lists houses that are "pre-foreclosure". I know it's semi-public record, but that certainly doesn't help the homeowner try and recover maximum value for their property if they decide to sell. On top of that, it's pretty unnerving when you see this pop up for one of your neighbors and good friends. Nobody should have to go through even more humiliation than they already are.
If you ever hover over the URLs, Zillow is using a 3rd-party service for the forclosure potential properties. It's lead gen, and you have to become a customer to get actionable data.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is from the article: "...the fact that they offer market-value estimates and 'are promoted as a tool for potential buyers to use in assessing [the] market value of a given property,' shows that they meet the definition of an appraisal under state law. Not only should Zillow be licensed to perform appraisals before offering such estimates" It can be surprising when seemingly innocuous activities are in fact heavi…
Why did stanford have to take the videos down?
Still has that blistering audio though, wish somebody would regulate that to a lower volume. :)
The Zillow estimate used to be spot on in our neighborhood, for several years even. Recently they all plunged to 10-20% below market value, even though all sales data puts it at the previous mark. The weird thing is that they also went back and recalculated old "Zestimate" data as well. On April 2nd the estimate for our house was $617,453, which is more or less what it would sell for. It had been above $600k since Ju…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The government's not getting involved, oh you mean the fact that a judge is going to be involved? Civil courts exist to provide monetary damages if damages can be proved to exist. Yes, they can also compel arbitrary behavior as a part of governing body. This is independent of any stance on Zillow and a state licensing regime. If the plaintiff can convince that the tool is making her lose money, the judge will award h…
You're right, I shouldn't have phrased it that way. I meant to say I don't think the government should be involved. Although, I'm not sure why the plaintiff should be awarded anything, even if Zillow causes her to "lose money". Unless Zillow is doing something specifically to her home estimate, then it's merely offering a differing opinion on what they think the home is worth.
"Yeah, I don't think it's worth that much. A hundred dollars, tops."
"Did you just appraise this car? Oh, you done messed up."
muffled sound of approaching police sirens
EDIT: Hah, didn't see you'd used the exact same analogy elsewhere.
You would think real estate would prove to be one of the few real life fields where machine learning would be able to predict the prices pretty accurately. You have: 1. List price 2. "Favorites" on the MLS. 3. Square footage 4. Bedrooms 5. Bathrooms 6. Sold price for nearby properties 7. Sold price for nearby properties relative to their list price And the list goes on... Is it that difficult to predict? Literally th…
The Zillow estimate used to be spot on in our neighborhood, for several years even. Recently they all plunged to 10-20% below market value, even though all sales data puts it at the previous mark. The weird thing is that they also went back and recalculated old "Zestimate" data as well. On April 2nd the estimate for our house was $617,453, which is more or less what it would sell for. It had been above $600k since Ju…
At one point a few years ago the Zestimate was about 540 and my house was appraised for 450.
And when we bought it 5 years ago the Zestimate was at 380 and we bought it for 420.
I once heard to expect the Zestimate to be off by ~20% in either direction. That seems to be holding here.
You would think real estate would prove to be one of the few real life fields where machine learning would be able to predict the prices pretty accurately. You have: 1. List price 2. "Favorites" on the MLS. 3. Square footage 4. Bedrooms 5. Bathrooms 6. Sold price for nearby properties 7. Sold price for nearby properties relative to their list price And the list goes on... Is it that difficult to predict? Literally th…
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!" -Upton Sinclair Zillow has an accurate estimate somewhere in their database but it's not in their financial interest to make that estimate public. By low balling, they both gain more buyers and gain more sellers.
For any market to work consistently, the market maker has to be basically neutral, imho.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I live in a hot real estate market (L.A.), and I've spent about 5 minutes (no exaggeration) looking online at the prices of houses in my neighborhood, knowing the actual closing price of recent sales, and my first thought was that prices were about 10-20% below market value. It's funny that this is obvious to someone like myself who has spent virtually no time dealing with real estate, let alone people heavily entren…
This is the same in Seattle, where a house's asking price can be 550, its zestimate (or Redfin estimate) will be around 570, and the price it actually goes for invariably ends up around 700. This has been the case for months, and it can almost seem like some sort of conspiracy between realtors and these meta-agencies to game the market. There are plenty of comps that show prices are WAY above what the 'estimates' sho…
The foreign money in the hot markets also doesnt help. It sucks to see a house list for 2.9m and sell for 3.7. it happens quite often here in the bay.