Ever wonder why the Zillow estimate is way too high, way too low, and nothing adds up?
Zillow and other computer estimates can be way off for one particular reason – Non-Disclosure. New Mexico isn’t alone in being a Non-Disclosure state. Why is this important for you as a consumer? Without the truth about a property, you can’t casually observe an evaluation by an advertising company to establish what a property is worth in today’s market.
“The second cause is that even though records are kept by a governing body, the records can not be distributed to the public. Such is the case in New Mexico, which “is a strict nondisclosure state, information about the property can only be given to the registered owner of the property.” Since we rely on public county records as our primary data source driving our Zestimate algorithms (which take comparable sales prices into account), it poses a challenge to calculate accurate Zestimates when sale prices are not available.”
Who has this data necessary to establish a valuation? REALTORS. We are a member of our local Multiple Listing Service which collects this data for the distribution of this information to clients for the purpose of establishing market trends and valuations of properties.
Chronicles of Data Collection – Zillow speaks
So, essentially, if you don’t have an accurate representation of past sale prices and square footage (because that isn’t recorded accurately either in the assessor’s office) you can’t get an accurate evaluation of a property.
It is important to remember that Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com and other public sites which display real estate information, are only advertising companies. They do a terrific job advertising homes for sale! They are great shopping sites for properties, they are not REALTORS and are not the in-person, boots on the ground professionals that guide you through the rest of the process.
Need to know the real value of your home in today’s market and how marketing your home for sale with a REALTOR professional, or buying a home with a REALTOR professional is essential? It’s perhaps the biggest investment of your portfolio. Contact me today.
