July 1, 2014: During the last few weeks I’ve been helping quite a few people determine the value of their home. Some of them are considering selling and making a move and others are doing refinances and want to know what their home is worth before they commit to the refinance and pay for an appraisal.
It seems like a lot of people start online with a Zillow Zestimate or the Salt Lake County Assessor’s search to determine what their home is worth. Then they call me because they aren’t sure if that’s accurate. Accuracy is a big deal when it comes to your home’s value. I encourage you to call me if you have any questions about that or anything real estate related. I’m happy to help any time and there is a reason Zillow and the County Assessor’s values are not accurate.
Utah is a non-disclosure state and does not record the actual sales price of homes on the County records. The only reliable sources for determining what a home sold for in Utah, are the Multiple Listing Services (MLS) of the various Realtor boards around the state. Only Realtors and appraisers licensed in the state of Utah have access to this information.
Today I ran an accuracy test. I did a search on the Wasatch Front Regional MLS and chose seven recently sold homes to compare what they actually sold for to the Zillow Zestimate and to the Salt Lake County Assessor’s value. The first home is across the street from my home and the rest I chose at random from around Salt Lake County. Here are the results:
- 1342 S. 600 East is in the Liberty Wells neighborhood of SLC and is right across the street from me. It sold for $240,000 on April 17, 2014. The Zestimate is $219,635. That’s 9.15% below what it sold for. The Salt Lake County Assessor values this home at $180,800 for 2014.
- 477 H Street in the Avenues neighborhood of SLC just sold for $347,000 on June 27, 2014. The Zestimate is $273,000. That’s $74,000 below what it sold for or 21.3% too low. The Salt Lake County Assessor’s value is even lower at $215,200 for 2014.
- 1372 E. Logan Avenue is a brick Tudor in the 15th & 15th neighborhood of SLC that just sold for $424,900 on June 27, 2014. The Zestimate is $381,000, 10.3% below what it just sold for. The Salt Lake County Assessor values this home at $338,800 for 2014.
- 3405 S. 3650 East near Mill Creek Canyon just sold for $415,000 on June 25, 2014. The Zestimate is $382,000. That’s 7.9% below what it just sold for. The Salt Lake County Assessor valued this home at $294,600 for 2014.
- 5449 W. Janette Avenue in West Valley City just sold for $193,000 on June 20, 2014. The Zestimate is $177,342. That’s 8.1% below what it just sold for. The Salt Lake County Assessor valued this home at $160,700 for 2104.
- 6879 S. Nye Drive in Cottonwood Heights just sold for $261,000 on June 25, 2014. The Zestimate was $254,000. That’s pretty close, just $7,000 or 2.7% below what it sold for. The Salt Lake County Assessor valued this home at $232,100 for 2014.
- 10446 S. Culmination Street in South Jordan sold for $450,000 on June 27, 2014. The Zestimate was $430,000. That’s also pretty close, just 4.4% below what it sold for, but keep in mind that’s still $20,000 too low. The Salt Lake County Assessor valued this home at $425,800 for 2014.
All seven of the Zillow Zestimates for the homes I chose were lower than what each of the homes sold for and a few of them were way off, by as much as $74,000 or 21.3%. The values from the Salt Lake County Assessor’s site for purposes of property taxes were lower than Zillow’s.
If you or someone you know is wondering how much their home is worth or has any real estate related questions, give me a call, it’s what I do.
Also, if you found this article interesting and would like to keep up to date with the Salt Lake County real estate market, I post a couple times a week on my SLC Homes Facebook page. You can check that out at:
https://www.facebook.com/SLCHomesNews
Kevin Coyle
REALTOR BROKER MBA
SLC Homes
M: (801) 243-0699
Kevin@SLCHomeBuyer.com
