>By low balling, they both gain more buyers and gain more sellers.
Just looked up my house, and got a chuckle out of my wife when I told her the zestimate for our house was 61% higher than the price we paid two years ago. Needless to say, we're in not in a "hot" real estate market (i.e. city population ~60,000). The other shady thing it that Zillow says the sold price for the house we sold back then is $20,000 higher than actual sale price. I wonder what percentage of people think Zillow is underestimating vs. overestimating home prices.
Just looked up my house, and got a chuckle out of my wife when I told her the zestimate for our house was 61% higher than the price we paid two years ago. Needless to say, we're in not in a "hot" real estate market (i.e. city population ~60,000). The other shady thing it that Zillow says the sold price for the house we sold back then is $20,000 higher than actual sale price. I wonder what percentage of people think Zillow is underestimating vs. overestimating home prices.