Zillow.com's House Values - Half Empty or Half Full for REALTORS®

Since Zillow.com's unveiling early this year, the real estate industry has been analyzing its home valuation accuracy with zeal. There are numerous sources that are critical, saying the valuation gathering methods result in inaccuracies. Now there's been a complaint filed, outlined in this article, Complaint targets Zillow.com's house values.

What are you bringing to the table in a listing presentation as documentation of valuation? Of course, we all do some sort of market analysis of comparable properties. And when it comes to buyers, you should be doing some of the same activity to help them to ascertain the true market value of listed properties.

As with most things, one person's half empty glass is another's half full opportunity. If there are Zillow statistics for your area, why not do a thorough analysis of those, complete with a comparison to your data? Your client has probably looked at them anyway. If you bring them up and present them as part of your analysis package, your professionalism gets a boost.