Broker's take on accuracy of zillow/trulia

Have to agree with you here. The points are good and need to be more publicized but the delivery was nearing a stoned history teacher. Here is what I found out about these sites:

Redfin recently conducted a study of the reliability of Trulia and Zillow. Their report stated that these two sites are missing around 20% of the active listings and that it takes 7 to 9 days before a new listing is uploaded. Additionally, 36.5% of their active listings are no longer for sale.

What does this actually mean? In active markets, not seeing a listing for 9 days could very well mean that great deal is already gone. What you are looking at are the mid-to-high priced homes that have no wholesale potential. On top of that, 35% of your time is wasted because you are researching listings that no longer exist. And if that wasn’t bad enough, for every 80 homes you considered, you missed seeing 20 possibilities. Does that sound like a good business practice?

How about estimating property value? Zillow can provide you with a free estimate. But how accurate is their estimate? According to Zillow’s own Zestimate data accuracy report, they have a median error rate of 6.9%. In fact, further down in their report they state that only 38.3% of the time are they within 5% of the actual sales price. The reality is that they are 20% off the actual sales price 84.7% of the time.

In the wholesaling business, a 20% mistake in pricing is suicidal. Follow the Zestimate’s price recommendations and you could very well lose all your profit on every deal. You need to base any purchase decision on actual verified comps along with active listings from the local MLS.

Campbell thanks! I know the guys mother and he is new, sounds like he needs practice in front of the camera, but it will come!