The A in Zillow Stands for Accuracy
The A in Zillow Stands for Accuracy
A Zillow Zestimate is a starting point, not a pricing strategy. See how I evaluate Modesto homes, study current competition, and why who you work with matters when it is time to sell.
If you caught the joke, you already know where I am going with this. The A in Zillow stands for accuracy. Exactly.
Listen, I understand why homeowners check Zillow. Of course you want to know what your home might be worth. You type in an address, a number appears instantly, and it is very tempting to look at that number and think, “Okay, that must be what my house is worth.” It is convenient, it is interesting, and yes, it can give you a starting point. But if you are actually thinking about selling your home, we need to talk about the difference between an online estimate and a real pricing strategy.
Zillow can give you a number. What it cannot do is walk through your home, understand the condition, compare it thoughtfully to what buyers are actually choosing between right now, or build a strategy around how your particular home should be positioned in the market. It cannot stand in your kitchen and notice the updates. It cannot see how well the home has been maintained. It cannot sit with you and talk about your goals. And it definitely does not know how I am going to market your home.
That matters. And yes, I have receipts.
Your Home Is Not Just a Number in an Algorithm
One of the challenges with real estate in Modesto and throughout the Central Valley is that our housing is not always as easy to compare as people think. We certainly have subdivisions, but even within those neighborhoods, the homes are not necessarily apples to apples anymore. Many of the homes that were once considered newer construction are now twenty years old or more, and a lot can happen to a house in twenty years.
One homeowner may have completely remodeled the kitchen. Someone else may have updated the bathrooms. One property may have been meticulously maintained from the day the owners moved in, while another house with the exact same original floor plan may still have many of its original finishes. On paper, those homes may look very similar. Same neighborhood, similar square footage, similar number of bedrooms and bathrooms. But are they actually competing for the same buyer in exactly the same way? Not necessarily.
That is why, when I sit down with a seller to talk about value and pricing, I am not simply pulling a few comparable sales, averaging the numbers, and calling it a day. The comps matter, absolutely, but there is more to the conversation. I want to understand the condition of your home, the upkeep, what has been changed or improved, what is happening in your neighborhood, and what else buyers currently have to choose from.
I Look at Your Home the Way a Buyer Would
One of the ways I think about pricing is very practical. I take a deep dive into what is available for sale right now and ask myself a simple question. If I were taking my buyers out to look at houses this weekend, and your home showed up in their search, what other options would I have to show them?
That changes the conversation, because your biggest competition is not necessarily the house that sold six months ago. Buyers cannot purchase that house today. It is useful information, but it is no longer an option. The homes that are available right now are options.
If a buyer is searching in your price range, your area, and for your general type of property, what are they going to see alongside your home? Which houses are going to catch their attention? Which ones feel like the strongest value? Which ones are presented beautifully? Which ones will make the buyer say, “I definitely want to see that one”?
My goal is to figure out how we get your home into that conversation. Ideally, I want your home to be among those top three to five properties the buyer is excited to go see. There is a lot more strategy behind how we accomplish that, and I am not giving away the whole playbook here, but this is exactly why pricing a home cannot be reduced to whatever number appears when you type your address into a website.
We are looking at real buyers, real competition, real property condition, and the real market your home is entering.
So, About Those Receipts
I say that I have sold homes for more than their Zillow estimate because I actually have examples. One of them is 709 Enslen Ave in Modesto. Before we hit the market, the Zillow Zestimate was $452,500. The home sold for $470,000, which was $17,500 above the Zestimate.
Another example is 5755 Highway 12 in Wallace. The premarket Zillow Zestimate was $438,500. I sold the property for $570,000, which was a difference of $131,500.
Then there is 929 Terrace Place in Modesto. The Zillow Zestimate before the sale was $522,900. The home sold for $630,000, which was $107,100 above the estimate.
Across those three sales alone, the actual sale prices totaled $256,100 more than the premarket Zillow Zestimates. Now, I want to be very clear about something. I am not saying that every home I list will sell above its Zestimate. That would be silly, and that is not how real estate works. I am also not saying Zillow never gets close.
What I am saying is that an automated estimate should not be the thing you use to make a major decision about your home. There is clearly more happening than one number on a screen.
Pricing Is Only One Part of the Strategy
This is also where sellers sometimes get caught up in the wrong question. They ask, “What should we list it for?” That is an important question, but I am thinking beyond just the list price. I am thinking about the entire way we are introducing your home to the market.
How is it going to look when buyers first see it online? How does it compare to the homes sitting next to it in their search results? What are we doing before photography? How are we presenting the property? What features should buyers notice? Is there anything distracting from the home? What is the competition doing well? Where do we have an opportunity to stand out?
This connects directly to something I talk about all the time. Selling a home takes more than putting it on the MLS and crossing your fingers. The MLS is a tool. It is not the marketing plan.
Your home deserves professional preparation. It deserves thoughtful positioning. It deserves professional photography. It deserves marketing that is actually designed to get buyers to stop, notice the home, and want to see it.
Then, once buyers start responding, we pay attention. Marketing is not something I do once on listing day and then forget about. The market communicates with us. The activity communicates with us. Showings communicate with us. Buyer feedback communicates with us. Offers communicate with us. The other homes coming onto the market communicate with us. A good strategy pays attention.
What Zillow Cannot Know About Your Home
There are things about a home that simply cannot be understood from a basic set of property data. Condition is one of them. Two houses can have the same bedroom count, similar square footage, and sit fairly close to one another, while creating completely different experiences for a buyer.
Upkeep matters. Updates matter. Presentation matters. The feeling of the home matters. The competition matters. Even the way we prepare a property before professional photos can change what buyers focus on when they first see it online.
This is the human side of real estate, and it is why I believe so strongly that sellers deserve real guidance instead of being handed a number and left to figure everything else out themselves. Your home is probably one of your largest financial assets. That deserves a conversation.
The Highest Number Is Not Automatically the Best Strategy Either
There is another side to this that is important. If Zillow is not the pricing strategy, neither is simply choosing the biggest number someone is willing to tell you.
Sellers deserve honest advice. Sometimes homeowners interview multiple agents, and it can be tempting to choose the person who suggests the highest possible list price. I understand why. If one person says your home is worth one number and another person gives you a much bigger number, obviously the bigger number sounds better.
But I want to know why. What is the strategy behind it? What does the current competition look like? Where are buyers actually making decisions? How are we going to position the home? What happens if the market does not respond the way we hoped?
Pricing should be supported by a thoughtful conversation, not used as a way to win a listing appointment. I do not believe in telling people what they want to hear just so I can put a sign in their yard. I believe in education, options, strategy, and giving my clients enough information to make a smart decision.
You are always in charge of the decision. My job is to make sure you are not making it blindly.
Who You Work With Matters
This is really what the Zillow joke comes down to for me. Technology is useful. Data is useful. Zillow can be useful. But none of those things replace representation.
An online estimate is not walking through your home with you. It is not studying the other homes buyers will be touring this weekend. It is not having conversations with you about preparation. It is not coordinating your marketing. It is not negotiating for you when an offer comes in.
It is giving you a number.
And when you are selling a home in Modesto, Stanislaus County, or anywhere in the 209, I think you deserve more than a number. You deserve to understand why we are making the decisions we are making. You deserve a marketing plan. You deserve someone paying attention to what is happening around your listing. You deserve professional representation.
That is what luxury service at every price point means to me. It is not about the price tag on the house. It is about the level of care, preparation, communication, strategy, and attention you receive throughout the process.
Curious What Your Home Is Actually Worth?
Go ahead and check Zillow. I am not going to stop you. Just do not confuse an estimate with a strategy.
If you are starting to wonder what your home could actually sell for in today’s market, I would much rather look at the whole picture with you. We can talk about your home, the condition, the neighborhood, the current competition, and what buyers would be choosing between if your property went on the market right now.
No pressure. No guessing. Just a real conversation about your options.
If you want to know what your home is actually worth, click the link and let’s chat.
Jaci Tidmarsh
Rand Residential
DRE #01730160
209-204-3509
