Belt Auction

help me understand real estate market?

i was looking at www.zillow.com website and realized on the price of my house was about 40% lower than what i paid for~!!! i paid my house for $130k plus put in about $35k to fix and up grade the house. that was back in 2004. now on the web site, my house estimate was showing for $98k. is this accurate? if i were to sell my house, i would have to sell for at least $165k to get even. if i wanted to make a profit, i would like to sell it for at least $200k. if i sold a house now, i would loose a lot of money~!! when i looked around for our friends houses in town, everyone else's home value also were down about 40-60% !! is this web site accurate and reliable ? why did the market went down? will it ever pick up again so that i can get out of there when the time comes for a decent price ?

Public Comments

1. Zillow gives ball park figures based on comparable sales over a fairly wide area and tax assessments. Sometime they are spot on, sometimes they are way off. If you aren't planning on selling, getting a HELOC, or refinancing, then don't worry about it. If you are planning on one of these things, then it could become a problem and you should get a professional appraisal that takes into account upgrades to the house.
2. Zillow is directionally correct. All I can say is you must have been spending a lot of time remodeling since the complete collapse of the housing market has been top of the news for years and years.
3. Ignore Zillow. It can be off as much as 300%, it is NOT an appraisal and not actual valuation of your property.
4. zillow is a TOY. Period. If you want to know that REAL!! value of your home, speak with a LOCAL realtor or have it appraised.