From: Brian Attwood 
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Housing prices in Nov. 2007 and Zillow "Zestimate"
Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 07:41:48 -0800 (PST)
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On Nov 20, 8:00 am, eganders  wrote:
> I am looking at Zillow on line and it looks like I will have to do my
> own tracking to find the actual value of a house.  I am in the
> Southeastern Michigan area.  Have you looked at the "zestimate" versus
> the recent sales price?  What the heck good is the zestimate, anyway?
> I am finding that it is more "the hoped for value" of a house.  In my
> area the zestimate is at least $100,000 more than the recent sales
> price of houses.  Take a look at housing prices around the area you
> are interested.  Check out the Zillow zestimate and what recent houses
> have sold for.  Do you see the same thing?
>
> Now I think you have to price it obviously below the average to even
> get a bite since there are so many sellers out there to a lesser
> number of buyers and there are so many houses on the market.

The only thing Zillow is useful for is providing a nice interface for
seeing recent sales prices in your area. The last time I looked the
zestimate for my house was pitifully low but then it was using comps
from neighborhoods that were not comparable at all.