The latest party craze for real estate fanatics is zillowing. http://www.zillow.com That's when eveyone heads for the computer and looks up the home values of bosses, friends, ex's, neighbors and etc.
Now it's not uncommon to get "zillowed". Be prepared for a shock when that co-worker, who resembles the roommate you couldn't stand in college, suddenly blurts out your home's value.
But how accurate are zillow and similar sites such as http://www.RealEstateABC.com ? I did a fast zillow search on my childhood home and discovered zillow has underestimated its value by $150,000. Likewise, the values of my neighbors' houses were also way off.
What does that tell us? Real estate can be more complicated that simply clicking and zillowing. Sure, zillow is a cool tool, as the kids would say, but it's only one tool and should be wisely used with a strong dosage of computerized common sense.
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