So, I just checked my condo on Zillow. I'm calling on the number. Does anybody have another website to visit, so I can at least get a better second opinion?

 

zillow estimate is BS. You have to compare with market comps. Look at similar for sale and sold condos in your area. Depending on your area you have a bunch of options. I use Propertyshark, zillow, aptsandlofts, trulia; etc.

Easiest way? Ask a realtor for a CMA.

 

Roger on Zillow BS. I check our neighborhood periodically and Zillow is low ball. But that's here. May be overstated other places. Even market comps can be misleading. We bought a 6 year old house last year and a identical (OK, mirror image) house a block away just sold for 25% more than we paid 15 months ago. And it lacks several of the nice options we have in ours. Recent selling prices reflect demand or lack of it, not "value" and we may have bought at a low point.

Are condos retaining value in SJC -- wherever the heck that is?

-- Chuck

 

This was somewhat for my own curiosity, as a non-comp (a freestanding house) went for X, which got me thinking about what my Y-condo was worth. I compared to Trulia, and while there was almost $50K in difference, the number is still significantly higher than I anticipated (woo hoo?!?! I'm not moving soon). Waiting on the PropertyShark report (e-mail system earlier today), and if it's within $10K of the trulia number, that'd firm it up reasonable enough.

INFO

 

Just got back the PropertyShark one-sheet. Praise Steve Jobs and his acid-fueled dreams of a space ship campus (and shiny buses to take the employees there)?!?!?

 

It's all crap. The best guess would come if you're serious about selling your property, or if you were serious about refinancing the loan on the property (but those estimates are typically not quite as good as a realtor's that knows the area well) - and you would just be getting an appraisal through their approved appraisal people which in my opinion is just a bunch of CRAP [it's literally always come back at exactly $5,000 more than we bought or sold our home for each time... such a scam]). If you go to the realtor you have to tell them straight up what THEY think your property is worth, right now, as it sits; and tell them you want a serious number. Sometimes if they get a feel that you're looking around at realtors, you're not serious and they think they need to be the iceberg that moves you into listing, they can and will over-inflate their opinion. But typically if you look at them and say with a lot of conviction that you want their REAL opinion and maybe even throw in a "we/I won't be insulted or upset by any number" then they can give you a good estimate. They would go through comps for you and you could show/tell them all of the desirable or undesirable features of your property versus others presently on the market and ones sold recently

 

As stated, this was just for my personal curiosity. To the point: I was surprised as that it was that high. Therefore, my inclination was to call . However, upon further investigation, there are drunk sailors foreign investors and speculators looking to buy real estate around my neck of the woods, even a 2/2 condo.

 

i work in commercial real estate. You would be shocked to see how much prices have come up in the past 3 years. doubled and tripled in a very short period.

you have the same advantage that i have in Manhattan. Limited Supply + Excessive demand + Low yields everywhere else in the world = High prices.