The Danger of Using Zillow in Montana
I was looking through Zillow this afternoon for homes that may work for one of my clients. I was amazed at all of the people that are trying to sell homes on their own that are using Zillow. Just in Kalispell, MT alone, there were 56 listings for FSBO’s (For Sale By Owner). As I scrolled through the listings, one thing jumped out at me. Most all of the homes look to be overpriced. Zillow has some sort of formula that determines the value of a home in Kalispell, or anywhere else in the country, for that matter. The interesting part is that Montana is a non disclosure state and the sale price of homes is not public record. So where are they getting these numbers you ask? Who knows?? Some of these “Zestimates” are almost as much as $100,000 less than the asking price for the house.
Here is the problem, if you are the homeowner and you truly feel that your home is worth what you are asking for it, why would you post your home for sale on a site that is telling all of the potential buyers that your home is worth way less than you are asking? Don’t you think that puts you in a poor position to negotiate the sale? Right out of the gate, any buyers are going to think that you are trying to gouge them on your price. This is not the way to start a negotiation! The sad part of all of this, is that some of the homes are worth what the people are asking but I’m sure they are still sitting on the market because Zillow is telling everyone that it is overpriced. There is one home that has been on the market for almost a year. Zillow has it as being $87,000 overpriced. I feel bad for those people, they have no chance.
There are many ways to market your home in order to get top dollar. The main way is to market the value of the house as opposed to the price driven approach. Zillow is basing everything on a price that they have pulled out of thin air! If you add up the amount of money that you are spending on house payments, insurance, HOA fees, etc., per month, it can be expensive! Think about how many extra months you will be paying those fees by using a site that is doing nothing but slowing down the sale. I hope everyone who is thinking about selling on their own keeps this in mind. You may be surprised at how much money you could be leaving on the table by selling this way. If you have any questions about the approach I use to sell homes, please feel free to message me or email me at montanaliferealty@gmail.com.
