Great News~

That's alot of value within 30 days, I know others might want that to happen to their own home.

Congrats
Maria

Your home is worth ZERO, until the home is sold and check cashed :)
Price appreciation,comps,and valuations by firms like Zillow,etc are only fodder for conversation..

Hi, Nan.

Are you planning on selling soon? If not, then there's no reason to worry if you bought at the top of the market. I bought at the top of the market in 1988 and during the 90's the value dropped by at least 30%. I didn't care because I wasn't selling. Two weeks ago we sold the house for over twice what we paid, and that's what I cared about.

The only two times to worry about market value are the day you buy and the day you sell. Everything in between is meaningless (other than if you want to borrow against the value).

That said, as Gdognj wrote, these free online valuation tools are highly inaccurate.

Kevin

Wow, like winning the lottery before buying a ticket.

Why is that so hard to believe? Isn't that the area where Bill Gates lives? It's probably a multi-million dollar home.

Well maybe it is not like winning the lottery and my pockets are not jingling with coin but it does make me smile. The "zestimate" is $182,000+ more than we paid. I have been going back and forth on renovation ideas trying to decide how much money we can put into the house. I'm not planning on selling soon as we haven't even been here a year. But sometimes things happen. And after floods,, windstorms, power outages, freak snow storms and freezing temperatures I can't help longing for our old California digs: )

Q- No multimillion dollar home, and I'm not sure where Bill lives but it sure isn't my neighborhood.

I wouldn't rely on Zillow other then for entertainment purposes. It is very inaccurate and is algorithm for valuing homes flawed. My home went down by $300k in one month and then up $245k two months later. And it never uses the house next to me that sold 6 months ago in the comps. I think Zillow really is a marketing engine first and designed more for having fun looking up your bosses and freinds houses to see what they are worth in Zillow $. I sure as hell would not buy a house relying on what Zillow says, even if you refine the estimate and comps.

Zillow says my house was worth $147,000 in 1997 and $112,000 as of today. I paid $117,000 in 2002 and I sure hope zillow is wrong.

correction: it was $153,000 in 1997.

Well, I also live in the Seattle are and Zillow has been showing my house on a decline since the summer. I am staying optimistic and hoping it is completely innaccurate since we are selling this spring!

so....I looked it up on Zillow. They put Bill Gates house at $135,702,176.00

My house in the Puget Sound area has been listed on Zillow at 479k, and it has been at about that price since Zillow started. It is pretty close to accurate. My house in Tucson jumps all over the place.

So what's wrong with entertainment value? (don't answer that, please) Yay, nan53! Sometimes you just gotta take your happiness where you can get it.

I just checked in on my house on Zillow, and it has gone down another 3,000 in the past few weeks, down over $50,000 in 6 months or so. Maybe they know it got hit by a giant tree?!

Nothing wrong with entertainment value (and that is all Zillow is). And if nan53 is entertained and happy about it, fine!

But, really, it doesn't mean anything concrete...
It says my street doesn't even exist... and my house was built in 1966. And the houses behind me (mcMansions starting at $300K) are listed at $57K-$72K.

Don't base major decisions on a Zillow number.

Our purchase price brought down the value ;)

Two months ago when I checked Zillow, the house was valued at $595K. When I checked today it was at $577K - MUCH closer to what we paid for the house. I guess they took into account what we paid.

It is entertaining to see the ups and downs. But that's as far as Zillow goes for me.

"Q- No multimillion dollar home, and I'm not sure where Bill lives but it sure isn't my neighborhood."

You're kidding, right? Bill Gates lives in Medina, right on the water (Lake Washington). You can see his house while crossing the 520 bridge. Go to Kirkland some day and take the boat tour, they'll tell you all about it.

The real estate prices in Seattle were terrible and that's why I moved. I now have a 2500 sq ft house 4 bd 4 bth finished basement with spa and paid under $200,000. I get paid the same as I did in Seattle, too. Oh, and I'm 6 miles from work. Woo hoo!

Susanjn thanks! I am having a tough time getting through this dark winter and I will take my smiles where I can get them!
clg7067 Sorry, I don't even know where Medina is. I guess I need to get out more. It always takes me a while to learn a new area. FWIW I don't live in Seattle we are on BI

Susanjn thanks! I am having a tough time getting through this dark winter and I will take my smiles where I can get them!
clg7067 Sorry, I don't even know where Medina is. I guess I need to get out more. It always takes me a while to learn a new area. FWIW I don't live in Seattle we are on BI

hey CLG- where did you move to with that housing prices and proximity to work?

I looked it up last night and saw the gates estate online. Looks like a nice area. Looks like Lake WA is very close to Puget Sound. Maybe one day I can pay a visit.

Zillow uses averages; therefore, the more sales activity, the closer its averages are to the "real" market. If you don't have a lot of recent activity, or are in a special location -- my MIL's house was in a select cul-de-sac which gives the houses on that 1 street higher than average prices than the rest of the neighborhood -- Zillow won't be accurate, and doesn't claim to be. If Gates ever sells his montrosity of a house, it will single-handedly jack up the average price of a Seattle home to probably over $5 million, LOL.

But Zillow is a lot of fun to play with, and I'm with Nan53, take your fun where you can get it! And Nan, Bellevue Island is gorgeous in the summer -- okay, it lasts 2 months in Aug and Sept up there -- so you will LOVE it then.

I've been in my house for over a year, but when I put my address in Zillow comes up with a house in a neighboring town that's worth less than half the value my house.

Bellevue Island? Is that a joke or did you mean to write Bainbridge? I have never heard anyone refer to Bainbridge as Bellevue, but I can understand why one might. Is it something like "crossing the pond" in reference to Lake Washington.

Let's clarify Zillow's statistical use: they can't make something out of nothing. If there has not been sufficient sales activity in your area to do comps, they cannot use only your house, no matter how long or short a time you have been in it, as the sole "average price". What you paid for your house will be averaged out with a pre-determined circular geographic area of roughly similar houses. If there aren't enough houses nearby, or not enough SIMILAR houses have been sold recently, the comps are going to be off.

They don't claim complete accuracy, it is a STARTING point for people who are afraid to call a local RE agent and bother them every single month to find out "what their house is worth right now."

And if you want Zillow to be more accurate, how many of you have bothered to update your housing profiles? It takes a little time, and many people don't bother. So why be surprised if it's not accurate? They get their info off the public records. I had to instruct the county tax assessor not once, but twice, in phone conversations during the earlier years we had the tax assessment reduced, on the correct # of rooms and bathrooms we had, even though the county had that information from the remodeling permits we had filed in 1989. But it took the tax assessors 8 years to correct their own records! Zillow corrects itself a lot faster, and over time will get more accurate in most areas -- not all because they just won't have #s to be statistically valid.