How accurate is the zillow zestimate for your home?

[robartsd]

To expand a bit on what this thread's taught me... I have a friend who graciously allowed my [unnamed non-profit] group to use her home for a fund-raising event. In the course of things, we have become much closer. In creating the invitation, map, and directions, I used Google Maps and Zillow, 'cause I'm a real estate kind of gal. I noticed Zillow's specs for the house and the Zestimate was way off. I didn't say anything to her. Then one day, she revealed that they're thinking about selling. Uh-oh. I saw her this week and she said they'd decided to have an appraisal done. It's an unusually beautiful house, so I'm thrilled they made that choice. The appraisal came in at $2.5M vs. Zillow's $1.7M Zestimate. Huge difference. I think I might speak to her about tweaking that Zestimate... I want to see them get the best price possible, as most of their NW is tied up in the house, which they built themselves.

To think that this discussion might help improve someone's financial security in their waning years (She's 87, he's 90) us nothing short of amazing.  Vicarious Mustachianism for the win!

I actually tried again and you can remove more than 3 on the location screen, it just warns that you might not be left with enough comps to make a good estimate. The estimate generated by the owner selecting comps will have no influence on the public Zestimate, but the Zestimate should eventually adjust based on the owner submitted facts about the property.

[partgypsy]

Had an appraisal in last year (260k). It used to range 225-240 so undervalued off by 8-15%. But checking it now, says it's worth 324K. I think that may be true if the house was fixed up, but while it is structurally fine, it is not updated like other houses around here. Purchased for 70K 18 years ago.

In retrospect I probably could have made decent money if had money to invest in real estate. I bought in this location because it was in really walkable including to downtown, and I was surprised that the houses were so cheap. I tried to convince my ex at one point for us to buy a duplex down the street during the downturn; the rent would have been more than the mortgage. Now if I didn't already own here, couldn't afford to live here.

Holy crap. I figured out why at least in part my house price went up. A standard size vacant lot on my block just sold for 765K. That is either insane or a typo.
Holy double crap. An older house on my block which is larger than my house by a 1.2K feet, sold last month for over a million dollars. This is crazy.