Is your house "sorta" for sale??

[CathyA]

I discovered today that there are sites that list your house, how many rooms, the value of it, the location on a map, etc., on Homes-for-sale sites, even when they aren't for sale. The site does say "off market", but still..........I think its invasive and misleading.
I looked up my old house from childhood the other day, and thought it was for sale. Then I looked up my neighbor's house (whose property we would like to buy, if she ever sells), and it was listed too.
Look up your house as a home for sale and I'll bet it comes up.
Isn't this crazy?

[Miss Cellane]

Was this a site like Zillow? While part of the purpose of similar sites is to list homes for sale, they are also supposed to be a tool to help determine what comparable homes in your area are going for, so you can set the price of your house accordingly.

I think in the case of the homes that are not for sale, the information listed is all in the public domain to begin with--the sites have just pulled it all together in one place.

[ctg492]

Yes it is Zillow.com A couple others too have this, public info.
But my house seems to be always somewhat forsale...since we never really know how long we will stay, where we will go next or when. I kinda wish there was a Maybe Forsale page :)

[redfox]

If I got the right offer, heck ya it's for sale!

[ctg492]

We have vacant land for sale a few hours from home, well kinda for sale. We listed it just over 6 months ago, just fishing. Never met the Realtor, just an email then fax of the papers. Another email about 3 months into the listing, a potential buyer pulled an old perk test and needed an update on it. No more emails till listing expired two weeks ago, asking if we were re listing. I asked has anyone looked at it, Oh sure she emails back. That was it, we did not say yes and did not say no. A neighbor said the sign is still on the property. I would be surprised if the Realtor pulls the sign, so the property is kinda forsale, if she gets a call she will ask us to sign again.
I wish the home could be like that, no strings, no advertising, just a maybe it is forsale for the right price.

[Bronxboy]

There is a feature on Zillow called "Make Me Move" that does exactly what a couple of you mention.

http://www.zillow.com/wikipages/What-is-a-Make-Me-Move-Price/

It would probably work better for an unusual house, where a comparable property can't be easily found.

[Jemima]

Far out. My house is indeed listed and at a price I couldn't possibly get. Zillow also listed nearby schools, which is stupid since this is an over-55 community and children are not allowed to stay for more than a thirty day visit.

[jennipurrr]

I love Zillow! I used to have to hunt through a couple of different websites (tax assessor, probate, etc) to find that info. Sites like this greatly reduce any perceived value of real estate agents also.

[Gregg]

Far out. My house is indeed listed and at a price I couldn't possibly get.

There's a lot of that, especially in areas where priced dropped significantly.

I love Zillow. It is still the fastest way to look up the street address of a property if you're not sure of the address number. It shows listing prices as well as comp sales in a given area. If you take the info as gospel you're going to be disappointed, but for a good general idea it works great.

And yea, I'm with Redfox. If the right offer comes along I'll be packing by dinner time.

[JaneV2.0]

I loved Zillow when my house was valued stratospherically. Now, not so much.

At any rate, I have a love/hate relationship with my house. Like me, it has potential. Like me, it's a spectacular underachiever. I'd sell it for the right offer, but I'd miss some of its charms.

[SteveinMN]

I love Zillow! I used to have to hunt through a couple of different websites (tax assessor, probate, etc) to find that info. Sites like this greatly reduce any perceived value of real estate agents also.
I like having all that information in one place, as well (though, if they really want to be "information central", Zillow could pull the public records that indicate who is paying the bills for that abandoned house around the block).

I'm not convinced Zillow substantially replaces a real-estate agent, though. Maybe the "comps" part of the job -- though in my experience, Zestimates are all over the (figurative) map. It would be hard for Zillow to account for micro-local preferences in the real-estate market (for example, the value of a contemporary-styled house can be determined according to its size and amenities, but Zillow can't/doesn't do a good job of telling you that, at the Zestimate price, that modern structure will sell faster in Neighborhood C than in Neighborhood I). And it certainly can't show prospective buyers through a house you're selling.

Then again, that's what Version 2.0 is for. :D

[Bronxboy]

Right now, Zillow's estimate is pretty close to target--roughly 5% on the low side.

[Spartana]

If I got the right offer, heck ya it's for sale!

Ha ha - this was me! I put my house up for sale last fall thinking it would take months to sell but I got an offer right away and all of a sudden found myself "homeless" several months before I was planning on it. Didn't want to pass up the offer in this economy though and, since I sold it completely furnished and didn't have anything to store, I just grabbed my clothes and personal items and vamanosed.

The Zillow estimate on my house was way to high too. I think it was looking at data from before the housing market crash because similair houses that had recently sold, sold for much less than their Zillow estimates too.

I like Zillow to look up housing prices in other areas but prefer www.Trulia.com and www.redfin.com better. I also use www.realtor.com. One way to better judge housing prices is to look at the "recently sold" function. This will show the actual sale price rather than the asking price and is a better tool to determine what you should list your house for IMHO.