How to inflate your house value on Zillow

HALF MOON BAY, Calif.--If you're embarrassed about the value of your house on Zillow, don't fret. You can upgrade it.

The Web site, which tries to determine the value of houses and then serves up the data through its site, has a process in which users can add additional information about their homes that may not be reflected in the public records the company scours, according to Amy Bohutinsky, director of communications at the ThinkEquity Partners' Think Tomorrow Today conference taking place at Half Moon Bay, Calif. (not to be confused with the I Know You Are, But What Am I symposium in nearby El Granada).

Thus, if you've had a major kitchen upgrade or turned the garage into a Jungle Room, you can submit the information to Zillow. In turn, the amendments can upgrade the value of your home.

So far, around 700,000 homeowners have done this, she said. You can learn about the process here.

She also whipped out some interesting facts about the site. Around 33 million homes have been viewed at least once. 90 percent of its users own a home and 50 percent are currently buying or selling a home (which explains why you may want to get those amendments in).

She also said that the price estimates Zillow produces are within a 7.2 percent margin of error on average and are within a 4.3 margin of average within the San Francisco Bay Area. Thus, if Zillow spits out an estimate of $430,000 on a tumbledown shack near a fish processing plant in Sausalito, it's probably pretty close.

[Dachi]

Zillow figures same as tax assessment?

Doesn't Zillo base their figures on the public county records (and assessment) that is also used to determine your property tax?

I know around where I live there are many homes that have not been re-assessed by the county in ages and are essentially getting away with murder.

When I compare the prices from Zillo to current market real estate values, the difference is huge.

If people want higher values on their home through Zillo, maybe they need to point out to the county that that are being under charged for property taxes :)

[unlikelyevent]

not accurate

Updating the zillow profile as an owner does NOT change the home value Zillow assigns. Maybe, over time, or when the county catches up with the accurate home facts it will change ... but being a legimate owner of the property, and fixing an inaccurate listing does not change the Zillow valuation. Personal experience speaking here.

[benlevante]

Missed the tax man angle; downside of inflating

From the Seattle-Post Intelligencer:

...he then asked if the assessor could legally use information disclosed by the homeowner on Zillow to augment the county's property valuation.

...Noble said the new Zillow service could be used as a tool to make sure that homeowners are paying their "fair share."

"If the particular individual is doing a major remodel off the books, sure we will utilize every tool to pick up those changes because it is only fair to spread the burden among all," he said.

He added that the assessor's office would have to verify the information listed on Zillow, most likely through a site visit.

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[cooleyb]

Agreed, not accurate

I usually check multiple sites to see what they all value the information at. One in particular not mentioned much is

www.HouseFront.com

(usually better than zillow, in my opinion)