"Calif Bill" wrote in message
...



Looking at Zillow regards my home, it says $819k while smaller homes down
the street are rated the same or higher. Seems as if is a low rating as
the equivelent home was $1.2mm 8 months ago. And homes in this area have
not dropped like a lot of other regions. Close upscale housing for
Silicon Valley.


I am telling ya, Zillow has revised their valuations, including historical
data.

Eisboch

On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:11:44 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Calif Bill" wrote in message
...



Looking at Zillow regards my home, it says $819k while smaller homes down
the street are rated the same or higher. Seems as if is a low rating as
the equivelent home was $1.2mm 8 months ago. And homes in this area have
not dropped like a lot of other regions. Close upscale housing for
Silicon Valley.

I am telling ya, Zillow has revised their valuations, including historical
data.

Yep. I think we've pretty much figured that out.

Now the question is why.

Perhaps they were overestimating values a tad?

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:11:44 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Calif Bill" wrote in message
...



Looking at Zillow regards my home, it says $819k while smaller homes
down
the street are rated the same or higher. Seems as if is a low rating as
the equivelent home was $1.2mm 8 months ago. And homes in this area
have
not dropped like a lot of other regions. Close upscale housing for
Silicon Valley.

I am telling ya, Zillow has revised their valuations, including
historical
data.

Yep. I think we've pretty much figured that out.

Now the question is why.

Perhaps they were overestimating values a tad?



My guess is this:

Zillow is connected with realtors or a home marketing network somehow.
They are always asking you if your house is for sale and encourage you to
list it. They even had a campaign for a while encouraging a "what offer
would it take to sell it" deal.

Inflating the market value was a means to falsely encourage people to list
their home, thinking they could get more for it than it was really worth.

Eisboch

Eisboch wrote:
"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:11:44 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:

"Calif Bill" wrote in message
...



Looking at Zillow regards my home, it says $819k while smaller homes
down
the street are rated the same or higher. Seems as if is a low rating as
the equivelent home was $1.2mm 8 months ago. And homes in this area
have
not dropped like a lot of other regions. Close upscale housing for
Silicon Valley.
I am telling ya, Zillow has revised their valuations, including
historical
data.
Yep. I think we've pretty much figured that out.

Now the question is why.

Perhaps they were overestimating values a tad?



My guess is this:

Zillow is connected with realtors or a home marketing network somehow.
They are always asking you if your house is for sale and encourage you to
list it. They even had a campaign for a while encouraging a "what offer
would it take to sell it" deal.

Inflating the market value was a means to falsely encourage people to list
their home, thinking they could get more for it than it was really worth.

Eisboch




Methinks you fellas are grossly overestimating the connection between
Zillow and real estate appraised values.

"Eisboch" wrote in message
news

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:11:44 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Calif Bill" wrote in message
...



Looking at Zillow regards my home, it says $819k while smaller homes
down
the street are rated the same or higher. Seems as if is a low rating
as
the equivelent home was $1.2mm 8 months ago. And homes in this area
have
not dropped like a lot of other regions. Close upscale housing for
Silicon Valley.

I am telling ya, Zillow has revised their valuations, including
historical
data.

Yep. I think we've pretty much figured that out.

Now the question is why.

Perhaps they were overestimating values a tad?



My guess is this:

Zillow is connected with realtors or a home marketing network somehow.
They are always asking you if your house is for sale and encourage you to
list it. They even had a campaign for a while encouraging a "what offer
would it take to sell it" deal.

Inflating the market value was a means to falsely encourage people to list
their home, thinking they could get more for it than it was really worth.

Eisboch


Forgot to finish my theory.

With all the heat currently on the housing market and mortgages, etc., I
think maybe Zillow realized it should clean up their act before they became
exposed. Just my guess.

Eisboch

wrote in message
...

On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:11:44 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:



I am telling ya, Zillow has revised their valuations, including
historical
data.

Eisboch




I was playing with Zillow the other day and they have an egreguios
error on my street. They seemed to have swapped a brand new McMansion
with a 40 year old "all original" rancher. If you just looked up that
one address you would certainly be confused. The difference is over a
hundred grand.


The difference between what they valued our house and property at 6 months
ago and what they value it at today is
about $700k.

Values have dropped, but not that much. I think their previous market
value "estimates" were highly inflated and bogus.

Eisboch

On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:56:56 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Eisboch" wrote in message
news

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:11:44 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Calif Bill" wrote in message
...



Looking at Zillow regards my home, it says $819k while smaller homes
down
the street are rated the same or higher. Seems as if is a low rating
as
the equivelent home was $1.2mm 8 months ago. And homes in this area
have
not dropped like a lot of other regions. Close upscale housing for
Silicon Valley.

I am telling ya, Zillow has revised their valuations, including
historical
data.

Yep. I think we've pretty much figured that out.

Now the question is why.

Perhaps they were overestimating values a tad?

My guess is this:

Zillow is connected with realtors or a home marketing network somehow.
They are always asking you if your house is for sale and encourage you to
list it. They even had a campaign for a while encouraging a "what offer
would it take to sell it" deal.

Inflating the market value was a means to falsely encourage people to list
their home, thinking they could get more for it than it was really worth.

Forgot to finish my theory.

With all the heat currently on the housing market and mortgages, etc., I
think maybe Zillow realized it should clean up their act before they became
exposed. Just my guess.

Hmmmm - makes sense to me. There is a connection between different
marketing networks and Zillow now.

There had been a huge fight between Zillow and brokers because of
Zillow's potential to usurp brokers authority and data.

Maybe they brought the values in line with broker data and begin to
build a relationship between them.

I know here in CT, they are pretty accurate because the data brokers
use is readily available to Zillow - it's public information.

"Don White" wrote in message
...

"Calif Bill" wrote in message
...

"HK" wrote in message
...
Eisboch wrote:
"HK" wrote in message
. ..


I know the feeling. Apparently you lucked out with the sale of your
boats, too.


Anything will sell if you price it attractively. It took well over a
year to sell the Navigator and I reduced the price a couple of times.


How about a photo of the historical marker that must be in front of
that old house? :) Must be quite a treat to have a house that old.




I wouldn't call owning the old house a "treat". We bought and
renovated parts of the interior mainly for a place for my wheelchair
bound mother to live after my father passed away. She does ok and is
basically independent, but needs watching and occasional help with
stuff.

The barn section is unique, but obviously old and musty.

I am not into "historical" buildings and will gladly sell it when the
day comes that my mother finally has to move to assisted living.
Surprisingly there are people into these old buildings and we have a
waiting list of interested potential buyers.

Eisboch


According to local lore, my old tobacco barn was built either during or
right after the Civil War. It has some of the original planks in it, but
I don't which ones they are! Lots of plants have been replaced over the
years. I think the descendants of the original raccoon family that moved
in there 150 years ago are among the current occupants.

My mothers house is a 1908 Georgian. Those who want old houses can have
them. Has 1908 tube and post wiring, 1908 plumbing mostly and a few
leaks and dryrot from the last 100 years.

The general idea is to upgrade them a bit each year.
My house was built during WW2 when the city was overrun by military
people.
Since 1985...
tore out the orig 60 amp service panel with fuses and installed a new 200
amp panel with breakers and had a new meter box and large mast/head for
outside
also replaced most of the old wiring with new code type.
tossed the old grate style oil furnace (which had been upgraded from coal
in 1959) and installed electric heating on three levels
tore down the old coal bin in the basement and constructed a room that my
oldest son used as a bedroom while in highschool/community college
installed clothes washer/dryer setup in basement
started to transform attic into a 'playroom' for the boys. Removed old
collar beams and raised then to give 7' clearance for an 8' x 24 foot
area.
Another four feet on each side limited by roof slope. Installed tongue &
groove 6" wide boards for floor, plus constructed a narrow stairway to the
attic from a small 2nd floor bedroom.
Replaced all the windows with new vinyl, installed insulation to all
outside walls, added a 12' x 18' addition, re-modelled kitchen & bathroom
tore down old garage & constructed shed...then added to that shed etc
etc. I'm tired just thinking about it all.... oh yeah,.we re-roofed the
house too.


There is a large difference between a WW2 small home and a 1908 Georgian. 2
stories, plus basement and attic with servants quarters, sun porches. About
3300; sq not including sun porches, basement and attic. Just getting to the
stuff to change is a major job. Plus you have to keep the same style stuff.
Wooden gutters, etc. This is in a neighborhood where homes start at $2mm+.
Locaton, location, location. Since my stepfather died in 1969 there have
been at least 2 new roofs. The problem is a flat deck off the second story
that wants to leak at times. So I brother and I have had to replace a
couple of bedroom ceilings. Since she is 93 years old, we now just maintain
the home. Next buyer is going to put $4-500k in a remodel. So not worth
putting a lot of money in now.

hk wrote:
Wayne.B wrote:
On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:12:27 -0500, wrote:

The guys who sold their houses
and loaded up on gold at $450 in 2005 are probably happy

Or loaded up on oil stocks. :-)



We got out of the scam known as the stock market a long time ago, but
for a couple of stocks we still have. Our gold holdings are on their way
to tripling, at which point we will liquidate some, but not for dollars.

Harry,
A few short months ago, you told us you had all of your investments in
real estate, now that gold is on the upswing, you suddenly have been
investing in gold for awhile now. Do you know how we can tell you are
lying? You fingers are on the keyboard.

Reginald P. Smithers III wrote:
hk wrote:
Wayne.B wrote:
On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:12:27 -0500, wrote:

The guys who sold their houses
and loaded up on gold at $450 in 2005 are probably happy

Or loaded up on oil stocks. :-)



We got out of the scam known as the stock market a long time ago, but
for a couple of stocks we still have. Our gold holdings are on their
way to tripling, at which point we will liquidate some, but not for
dollars.

Harry,
A few short months ago, you told us you had all of your investments in
real estate, now that gold is on the upswing, you suddenly have been
investing in gold for awhile now. Do you know how we can tell you are
lying? You fingers are on the keyboard.



You're wrong, crap for brains. I never said or implied "all," and I've
mentioned gold investments more than a couple of times. Nice try in
perpetuating another of your lies about others.