Don't Let The Zillow Zestimate Steal Your Equity
It has been announced that Zillow will use its Zestimate tool to make cash offers for homes in some markets. To some sellers, it may sound like a good deal. You can sell your home fast and not have to worry about all the showings, dealing with agents, and everything else that comes with selling a home. That sounds like a great deal right? Well in a perfect world it would be. However, We all know this isn't a perfect world.
Is the Zillow Zestimate Offer Legit
This is how it works. You're thinking about selling your home and you head over to Zillow to get an idea of what it's worth. They show you a price that you're totally okay with and you decide that you're better off selling your home to them. What they don't tell you, is that's the starting price before they come out and decrease that Zestimate with repairs.
Zillow is in business to make money. They want your home so they can sell it to someone else for a profit. It doesn't do them any good to buy your home at top dollar and then turn around to try and sell it. That would be a horrible business plan. So in order for them to make money, they'll have to get that Zestimate price down.
They are going to deduct from that price with things that your home needs. An example is, they'll take off from the value by telling you that you need a new roof. Of course, their estimate to put a new roof on vs what you could actually replace it for is going to be a lot different. Also, do you really need a roof?
Zestimate Fees to sell your home.
You didn't think they were going to buy your home without charging you a commission, did you? Of course, they're not! They are a Real Estate Brokerage now. Most people don't know that. I can't say exactly how much Zillow will charge you. You can check their terms and conditions and I refuse to link to their site.
I can tell you that I've personally had an instant offer from Opendoor. They came in with a low ball offer that was about 20K lower than the appraisal that I had done 1 month before. That wasn't the sad part. The sad part is they said they were going to charge me 9.5% in fees to sell my house.
WHAT!!! Yes, I SAID NINE POINT 5 PERCENT. That's 3.5% higher than any agent in the area would charge me. Based on this Value estimate that would have cost me another $8,827 to sell my house to Opendoor. My home could have sat on the market for 6 months and I wouldn't have lost 8K in mortgage payments. Does it still sound like it's a good idea?
Just use a traditional Real Estate Agent
Everything that glitters is not gold. We've all heard that. Please don't fall victim and let these companies come in and steal your hard-earned equity. It's definitely not in your best interest. Just use a traditional agent and your home will be sold in no time. If you need to have repairs done, get them done by your own selected repair person, and don't pay the mark-up to help these companies stuff even more of your cash in your pocket.
A traditional agent will know your area, will know how to market your property, and will get you top dollar. You have to consider all that when you're listing. The current market trends, expected closing costs, and market inventory. Unfortunately, the previously discussed companies will consider all that... Just Not In Your Favor!
If it's a discount you're looking for you, you've got to check out our Hybrid Agent Program To Sell Your Home.
You've Worked Hard For Your Equity==> KEEP IT IN YOUR POCKETS!