Secrets of the City

a I mentioned in my Zillow.com review – I like the ability to refine the value without needing a login. Sure – the numbers don’t stick, but the simplicity is refereshing.

They claim there isn’t enough data yet for the “zestimate” on my home. How much data could you possibly need for a Maytag box under a railroad bridge? Commence folding of arms.

It lists my side-by-side duplex as a 4 br, when it’s really 2 2-bedrooms. I would think this would affect the true value?

This site is down right now. Here’s what pops up:
“Due to overwhelming demand, our beta site is down. We’ll be back online as soon as possible. Please check with us again later.”

It says the duplex I rent half of is worth $246,940. But it has absolutely zero information about the property.

Hmm, lots of the addresses I type in come up with a value, but no property info.

It’s been up and down most of the day, which is why I didn’t post it earlier. It was working steadily for me earlier tonight….

What I really miss is the formerly-online version of the HHM’s Confer Company real estate photographs. You could find a picture of your house circa 1923 or 1915.

You can still view the images – it just requires a trip to the museum.

My house isn’t valued on there, but they’ve got much better aerial photos than the satellite views at google.

Phyllis Kahn’s house on Nicollet Island is worth between $177,649 and $223,559. That seems low.

Her 2004 taxes were $243.

hhhmmmmm

casual scroll/ casual stroll

nice.

A nice novelty but (sorry to burst your real estate bubble) COMPLETELY INACCURATE. The places I checked listed properties for Tens of Thousands less (or more) than what they recently sold for.

Not to be smug but the data that drives this thing is either years old, tax records or complete fiction. Any home is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Value is determined by RECENT sales and that information, while a matter of public record, is best found on the Regional Multiple Listing Service (RMLS). This is just one (of many!) reasons why people choose to work with Agents.

Search the Hennepin County tax records if you are really curious about what Rybak’s house is worth.

If you want to know what your house is worth – call a Realtor. You can’t swing a dead Mortgage Officer in this town without hitting one and they all will gladly provide this service free of charge.

Better yet- contact me! Call me shameless but I need the work!

It’s a good start, and great idea. Interface awesome. Results, not so much. Values are just all over the map, and a 50k range in price is not something you need a many many million dollar start up to tell you.

The more data they can attach to each parcel, (previous sales, amenities, etc.) the better it will get, I suppose

Pat, this has been debunked.

Yeah call a realtor and have them sell your house and then give them 5-7% of the value of your property. All that for a pretty face with no actual skills.

I just look at the valuation and sales histories on the Property Information site for Minneapolis when I want to spy on my neighbors. That along with Hennepin County’s site (as TC Realtor said) is not perfect but seems more accurate than zillow.

debunked?
there’s some smoke and mirrors in that posting especially coming from an island resident; the info is not on the website due a computer problem. it still smells funny

Zillow is from the founder of expedia btw.

PropertyShark, zillow, and redfin for bidding and negotiation might finally force a portion of the glut of real estate agents/leeches to get a real job rather than siphon off their unearned 6%.

Although what zillow.com’s launch has to do with a local issue I don’t know.

what’s all the “realtors are unskilled leeches” crap? as a realtor i can tell you that acting as the middleman is not always easy or pretty. people can be defensive, skittish, flaky, stupid, and/or crazy when buying or selling houses and when you put their retirement/nest egg on the line, well, shit happens and guess who gets to catch it from both sides? yup.

i’ve spent weeks and months helping people to find the ‘perfect’ house and then had the whole deal blow up at closing, which means no payment for all that time. it all evens out in the end.

i’m just saying…don’t disparage a whole profession without knowing more about it. there are smart, talented, useful people working as realtors. ignore the lexus bunnies and look for someone who can provide value. we’re out there!

Mpls Simpleton you are right.

Sell it yourself for (statistically) 21% less than what you could have made had you listed with an Agent.

Even paying a full 7% Commission you wil only have lost 14%.

But that’s cool. It’s your money.

And to say all Realtors have no skillz and pretty faces is a bit exagerated.

Here’s how it breaks down:

15% Pretty Faces
25% Ugly Face, Nice Body, No Skillz
10% Pretty Face but Fat (Good Personality)
5% Mad Skillz
45% Herpes Sufferers

I hope this helps!

tc realtor…love the stats.

But you forgot:

12% Rhinoplasty Addicts

i’d say that even if you were going to break even (using a realtor vs. doing it alone) there’s huge value in having someone on your side, acting as a mediator, guiding you through the process, pointing out the legal pitfalls, etc.

and, as you pointed out, sellers who represent themselves usually leave money on the table.

remember that old saying about someone who represents himself in court has a fool for a client? same damn deal.

having said all that, i agree that fees should be more adjustable and should even take into account how much work was done on a particular contract. you might get lucky and sell a big property without spending a lot of time or money OR you might have to spend tens of thousands on marketing and burn lots of hours.

Not2Sure come closer. I need you to be my Human Host.

And I don’t roll out of my satin sheeted bed for less than 7% pal.

I suppose you might leave some cash on the table if you don’t have an internet connection so you can pull comp sales figures of homes in your neighborhood and have absolutely no idea what houses are supposed to sell for.

If you selling your house by yourself you are leaving 21% on the table why do we have buyers agents? Couldn’t I just find a FSBO and save 1,000’s of dollars?

Oh and stats with no footnotes or backup are just whistling in the wind.

The Commission paid out to list your home is split amongst the List Agent (who pays all marketing expenses i.e. Newspaper Ads, Flyers, 360 Home Tours etc. etc)
The Listing Broker
The Selling Agent
and the Selling broker.

So on a 6% Listing the List Agent MIGHT gross 3.3% LESS whatever cut their borker takes (50-90%.)

We have Buyer’s Agents (called Seller’s Agents in the biz) to PROTECT YOUR INTERESTS as a Buyer and to help you find the home you are looking for. And the best part of this for buyers is that IT COSTS YOU NOTHING! Buyer’s Agents are paid out of the Listing fee When and IF you close.

Footnotes? We got footnotes.

“Statistics prove that by using a professional REALTOR®, on average youre likely to get 21% more* for your home than selling it yourself. So after paying your agents commission, youre still ahead.”

*Based on a National Association of Realtors 2003 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.

Here’s more:

Nine out of 10 homebuyers use a real estate agent in the search process, but use of the Internet to search for a home has risen dramatically over time, increasing from only 2 percent of buyers in 1995 to 77 percent in 2005 and 74 percent in 2004. The next largest source of information for buyers is a yard sign, mentioned by 71 percent of buyers.

When asked where they first learned about the home purchased, 24 percent of buyers identified the Internet, up strongly from 15 percent in 2004 and only 2 percent in 1997. Although most buyers use an agent to complete the transaction, 36 first learn about the home they buy from a real estate agent; 5 percent get information from yard signs; five other categories were 7 percent or less.

Glad to leach. I mean help.

The post wanted noteworthy finds. The Kahn thing seems noteworthy. Thought I’d check it out. It appears very undervalued, City of Minneapolis (http://apps.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/PIApp/ValuationRpt.aspx?pin=62284)
lists the property as being worth $425,000, however, the it lists the total taxable value as $0?

Hennepin County (http://www2.co.hennepin.mn.us/pins/pidresult.jsp?pid=2302924220076) indicates taxes due in 2005 at $243.16.

Thank god!

I thought for a second that the figure of 21% was an unbiased number.

People use agents because they think that the paper work is difficult.
It’s about as difficult as the 1040EZ form.

This seems to be based on city tax estimates, not what they actually are selling for. There are a few on my block that have sold in the last year for $150K – $200K more than this shows. This is a great GUI though.

Nicollet Island: Remember, people are only leasing the land from the city for $1 – so don’t believe those estimates.

You think this is fun to look at your boss’s house value? – check out http://www.fundrace.org and find out how much they gave to which political candidate in 2004 (it’s also pretty inaccurate, but completely addicting)

Mpls Simpleton, You don’t even know enough to know that youd don’t know enough. Best of luck in all your real estate transactions, you’re gonna need it!

I think this is even funnier than the zellar thread, except for the Baby Jesus thing. I’m surprised nobody mentioned the tactic of burying a St. Joseph figurine in your yard when you’re trying to sell. Are those available at Smitten Realtor, I wonder?

Laughing out loud at Carrie’s comment!

Zillow was pretty right on in my neighborhood. Maybe 5K to 10K each way.

Reagrding the claim that FSBOwners leave 21% on the table…I wonder. I’ve always heard that they price way too agressively and their homes sit for months.

My opinion on real estate agents:
*do you like sitting at the open house?
*do you like negotiating with weird, unpredictable & stingy people?
* do you know where & how to market your home?

If you answered no, hire a realator.

Realators definitely take away the headaches.

Zillow is great. Its one of the best tax search tools.