Over the weekend, one of my favorite clients emailed me a list of homes that Zillow had listed as recent sales in their neighborhood, so I researched each property individually via Oklahoma County records.
See the email in full below, and you’ll see my replies to each section in Red:
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 11:25 PM, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:I found these recent sales in our area on zillow.com. I think a couple of them (2nd & 3rd?) may not have been on the comps you pulled. Here’s the link if you want it: http://www.zillow.com/homes/comps/21940318_zpid/
6625 NW 115th St $244,000 05/29/2009 4 3.0 2,708 — — $90 0.04 This one sold 5/29/09 for $244K, but courthouse has it at 2,661 square feet, which would put the price per square foot at $91.69
6509 NW 111th St $243,000 05/28/2009 4 3.0 2,800 — 1992 $88 0.27 This one sold 5/22/09 for $243K and courthouse shows 2,794 square feet, which equates to $86.97/sf
6509 NW 114th St $215,000 05/28/2009 4 3.0 2,529 — 1991 $88 0.17 This one sold 5/27/09 and the pricing/size shown here is correct, however the correct math would put this one at $85.01/sf.
6601 NW 113th St $242,500 03/16/2009 4 2.25 2,803 11,000 1991 $86 0.15 This home has not sold since 2006.
6508 NW 113th St $205,000 05/19/2009 3 2.5 2,554 — 1986 $88 0.22 This one sold 5/15/09 for $205K and is 2,557sf, which equates to $80.17/sf.
6717 NW 118th St $237,500 03/05/2009 4 3.0 2,355 — 2004 $100 0.33 This one sold 2/27/09 for $237,500, but is 2,300sf according to the courthouse, which equates to $103.26/sf.
6605 NW 119th St $330,000 04/20/2009 5 4.5 3,577 9,200 1999 $92 0.42 This one sold 4/16/09 for $330,000, and they have the pricing/size correct.
As you can see, the only thing that Zillow got consistently correct is the sales price, but the dates, sizes and prices per square foot are almost all wrong. This is one of the major problems that the internet creates for home sellers.. MISinformation.
Some of the inaccuracies seem minor, and others not-so-minor. My point? Be very careful about the sources you use when determining what your home should sell for, and verify their accuracy. It’s very easy to under-price or over-price your home, but getting it correct takes a ton of time, research, and knowledge.
By the way, these same inaccuracies can cause problems for buyers, too.
How important is it to get your home priced correctly?
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