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Want to Know What Your Home is Worth? Don't Ask the "Zestimator!"

It really pains me when I hear people reference “Zestimates®” of their homes. The Zillow algorithm for estimating a home’s market value may be a fun tool to play around with, but it is not an accurate indicator of value in our market.

So how off is it?

To find out, I took a look at a few recent Cambridge and Somerville sales and ran the properties through the Zestimator® to see how the numbers compared. Here are the results:

23 Harvard Street U:2, Somerville (Spring Hill condo)

Zestimate® says… $399,651 Actual sale price… $460,000 — 15% higher than Zestimate®

17 Tremont Street U:3, Cambridge (Area Four condo)

Zestimate® says… $463,581 Actual sale price… $538,000 — 16% higher than Zestimate®

48 8Th St, Cambridge (East Cambridge 2-family)

Zestimate® says… $529,504 Actual sale price… $440,000 — 17% less than Zestimate®

The net? If you really want to know what your home is worth, have a local agent come out to visit and prepare a comparative market analysis — you can read more about how I personally handle pricing in my post on the topic.

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