Real Estate Values in My Neighborhood
Dec. 26th, 2006 04:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebOn the real estate valuation site zillow.com I found the button to search for comparables. All the ones in my neighborhood sold recently for much less than their zillow estimates. I even found the house I might have bought if I hadn't bought the house I did. That house sold again in March for $63,751. Ten and a half years ago, that house had a list price of $60,000 and mine had a list price of $64,000. I see that other house regularly on my bus ride home, and it has not caved in or anything.
I think zillow is averaging the selling prices of many places "nearby" but are not restricting "nearby" enough. I think they are comparing my house to houses of a similar size in places like Hyde Park and Cherrywood. No actual human being would do such a thing.
Thus, I am now removing the zillow estimate from my estimate of my net worth. I had been averaging it with the tax collector's assessment ($119,000). Apparently the tax collector's assessment is plenty high enough.
I can't believe that other house sold for so little. Yes, it's small, 720 square feet. But it's well designed. The two bedrooms are as small as mine, the bathroom smaller. The living room is big and open. The kitchen is like a galley kitchen only there are cabinets on only one side and widows on the other and no room to make it a full galley kitchen. And it has wooden floors and a skylight that adds to the character of the place. So is the kitchen just so horrifying nowadays that the house hasn't gone up in value at all over the past ten years? Weird. Or maybe my house would also only sell for about $65,000 nowadays.
I think zillow is averaging the selling prices of many places "nearby" but are not restricting "nearby" enough. I think they are comparing my house to houses of a similar size in places like Hyde Park and Cherrywood. No actual human being would do such a thing.
Thus, I am now removing the zillow estimate from my estimate of my net worth. I had been averaging it with the tax collector's assessment ($119,000). Apparently the tax collector's assessment is plenty high enough.
I can't believe that other house sold for so little. Yes, it's small, 720 square feet. But it's well designed. The two bedrooms are as small as mine, the bathroom smaller. The living room is big and open. The kitchen is like a galley kitchen only there are cabinets on only one side and widows on the other and no room to make it a full galley kitchen. And it has wooden floors and a skylight that adds to the character of the place. So is the kitchen just so horrifying nowadays that the house hasn't gone up in value at all over the past ten years? Weird. Or maybe my house would also only sell for about $65,000 nowadays.