If you have listings, check zestimates on Zillow.

Zillow posts listings from the multiple listing and also suggests an estimated market price based on comps. If it were this easy to get an idea of price, banks would not pay for BPOs and buyers need not pay for appraisals.

A local agent goes into the house and accounts for upgrades and helps determine the price and so does an appraiser . This can be more accurate than a Zillow zestimate.

These days buyers assume they know everything , and do their own comps based on Zillow when they make an offer and disregard advice from the agent. They think that our fees are based on percent of sale price so we make more if we sell at higher price.

But the good thing about Zillow is that the owner or agent can make changes based on upgrades as zillow has no idea how the house compares to a recent sale in terms of upgrades. This way atleast the price will be higher than the original estimate.

I recently had a buyer who decided to offer a certain price which after negotiating for a week is only $10k. less than seller's counter offer and zillow price , there are $20k in upgrades . If the agent had taken the time to check it out , the buyer might have agreed. The buyer has a few friends who are all experts because they have bought a house and the buyer thinks he knows everything

They need an agent only to show a house.

Zillow is a good site and you can look up listings and see recent sales in the area but their price is just an estimate.If you look at sale price and estimate in many cases they are different.

If buyers determine price based on Zillow, how come sellers do not do the same thing?

Attention buyers! ask yourself this question.If we can get a value of a home by going on the internet why would banks send appraisers to check out value?

A good agent tries to get the lowest price for the buyer and bases it on knowledge of the market. Our business is based on referrals which can be worth thousands of dollars in the long term, rather than selling you a home for a few thousand dollars and getting an extra couple of hundred dollars in commissions.