Zillow gone wild?

[propertysearchaddiction]

Homeowners love to quote Zillow
Homeshoppers love to quote Cyberhomes

The reality is usually some where in the middle.

Classic example: 3722 Sq Ft
862 Genoa Way
San Marcos Ca 92078
3722 Sq Ft

Zillow ZESTIMATE®: $746,500
Cyberhomes $575,000

Here is the next door neighbor’s Zestimate.

860 Genoa Way
San Marcos CA 92078
3,728 sq ft

Zestimate®: $1,011,500

[DataAgent]

http://www.eppraisal.com

Eppraisal usually falls between Zillow (high) and Cyberhomes (low).

[DataAgent]

http://www.eppraisal.com

Eppraisal usually falls between Zillow (high) and Cyberhomes (low).

[DataAgent]

http://www.eppraisal.com

Eppraisal usually falls between Zillow (high) and Cyberhomes (low).

[DataAgent]

http://www.eppraisal.com

Eppraisal usually falls between Zillow (high) and Cyberhomes (low).

[DataAgent]

http://www.eppraisal.com

Eppraisal usually falls between Zillow (high) and Cyberhomes (low).

[CA renter]

[quote=UCGal]I have no clue why/how zillow gets their numbers.

For example – my house. Same models on our street, also without any additions, are showing $100k or more higher than ours. All of these houses are 40+ years old. The only thing I can figure is that our front yard isn’t as nice. They sure as heck don’t know what the state of the inside is. For all Zillow knows we could have the most fantabulous decked out new bathrooms/kitchens with hand crafted hardword floors installed by artisons. How would zillow know?

Now, we’ve added a companion unit – which changed our deed status to multi-family. Zillow shows us as multifamily, but does not give us the added square footage. And obviously doesn’t give us the added value of having a detached 1 bedroom rental unit.

It doesn’t matter to me. I’m not planning on selling anytime in the near or longterm… we’re here for the long haul. But my house is proof that Zillow seems to pull numbers out of their butt. They don’t seem to have much credibility.[/quote]

UCGal,

If you don’t mind my asking, how much did the entire addition cost — fees and permits, design/architectural work, engineering, materials, labor, etc? Also, what are the specifics: attached/detached, size?

We would be interested in doing the same thing when (if??) we buy.

Thanks!

[CA renter]

[quote=UCGal]I have no clue why/how zillow gets their numbers.

For example – my house. Same models on our street, also without any additions, are showing $100k or more higher than ours. All of these houses are 40+ years old. The only thing I can figure is that our front yard isn’t as nice. They sure as heck don’t know what the state of the inside is. For all Zillow knows we could have the most fantabulous decked out new bathrooms/kitchens with hand crafted hardword floors installed by artisons. How would zillow know?

Now, we’ve added a companion unit – which changed our deed status to multi-family. Zillow shows us as multifamily, but does not give us the added square footage. And obviously doesn’t give us the added value of having a detached 1 bedroom rental unit.

It doesn’t matter to me. I’m not planning on selling anytime in the near or longterm… we’re here for the long haul. But my house is proof that Zillow seems to pull numbers out of their butt. They don’t seem to have much credibility.[/quote]

UCGal,

If you don’t mind my asking, how much did the entire addition cost — fees and permits, design/architectural work, engineering, materials, labor, etc? Also, what are the specifics: attached/detached, size?

We would be interested in doing the same thing when (if??) we buy.

Thanks!

[CA renter]

[quote=UCGal]I have no clue why/how zillow gets their numbers.

For example – my house. Same models on our street, also without any additions, are showing $100k or more higher than ours. All of these houses are 40+ years old. The only thing I can figure is that our front yard isn’t as nice. They sure as heck don’t know what the state of the inside is. For all Zillow knows we could have the most fantabulous decked out new bathrooms/kitchens with hand crafted hardword floors installed by artisons. How would zillow know?

Now, we’ve added a companion unit – which changed our deed status to multi-family. Zillow shows us as multifamily, but does not give us the added square footage. And obviously doesn’t give us the added value of having a detached 1 bedroom rental unit.

It doesn’t matter to me. I’m not planning on selling anytime in the near or longterm… we’re here for the long haul. But my house is proof that Zillow seems to pull numbers out of their butt. They don’t seem to have much credibility.[/quote]

UCGal,

If you don’t mind my asking, how much did the entire addition cost — fees and permits, design/architectural work, engineering, materials, labor, etc? Also, what are the specifics: attached/detached, size?

We would be interested in doing the same thing when (if??) we buy.

Thanks!

[CA renter]

[quote=UCGal]I have no clue why/how zillow gets their numbers.

For example – my house. Same models on our street, also without any additions, are showing $100k or more higher than ours. All of these houses are 40+ years old. The only thing I can figure is that our front yard isn’t as nice. They sure as heck don’t know what the state of the inside is. For all Zillow knows we could have the most fantabulous decked out new bathrooms/kitchens with hand crafted hardword floors installed by artisons. How would zillow know?

Now, we’ve added a companion unit – which changed our deed status to multi-family. Zillow shows us as multifamily, but does not give us the added square footage. And obviously doesn’t give us the added value of having a detached 1 bedroom rental unit.

It doesn’t matter to me. I’m not planning on selling anytime in the near or longterm… we’re here for the long haul. But my house is proof that Zillow seems to pull numbers out of their butt. They don’t seem to have much credibility.[/quote]

UCGal,

If you don’t mind my asking, how much did the entire addition cost — fees and permits, design/architectural work, engineering, materials, labor, etc? Also, what are the specifics: attached/detached, size?

We would be interested in doing the same thing when (if??) we buy.

Thanks!

[CA renter]

[quote=UCGal]I have no clue why/how zillow gets their numbers.

For example – my house. Same models on our street, also without any additions, are showing $100k or more higher than ours. All of these houses are 40+ years old. The only thing I can figure is that our front yard isn’t as nice. They sure as heck don’t know what the state of the inside is. For all Zillow knows we could have the most fantabulous decked out new bathrooms/kitchens with hand crafted hardword floors installed by artisons. How would zillow know?

Now, we’ve added a companion unit – which changed our deed status to multi-family. Zillow shows us as multifamily, but does not give us the added square footage. And obviously doesn’t give us the added value of having a detached 1 bedroom rental unit.

It doesn’t matter to me. I’m not planning on selling anytime in the near or longterm… we’re here for the long haul. But my house is proof that Zillow seems to pull numbers out of their butt. They don’t seem to have much credibility.[/quote]

UCGal,

If you don’t mind my asking, how much did the entire addition cost — fees and permits, design/architectural work, engineering, materials, labor, etc? Also, what are the specifics: attached/detached, size?

We would be interested in doing the same thing when (if??) we buy.

Thanks!

[UCGal]

[quote=CA renter]

UCGal,

If you don’t mind my asking, how much did the entire addition cost — fees and permits, design/architectural work, engineering, materials, labor, etc? Also, what are the specifics: attached/detached, size?

We would be interested in doing the same thing when (if??) we buy.

Thanks![/quote]
Our case was about as atypical as possible.

We built a detached companion unit – 700sf. Handicap accessible. A very nice looking “casita”.

Architecture – free. My husband is a registered architect.
It was on a slope, so we had civil engineering – 11k for the civil plan
4k for structural (2k building related, 2k for retaining walls)
10k for geotechnical (aka dirt).

If we had a level lot – you could eliminate the geotechnical, civil, and 2k of the structural… Engineering would have been 2k instead of 25k.

Permits – again atypical because we had the hill issues and had to get a civil permit and a separate permit for the retaining walls that hold the building site in place. The building permit was probably $30k, the others were a lot less. Oh and because of the retaining wall footings, we triggered a CalOSHA permit requirement. (Not at all typical.)

Judging by your screen name, I presume you’re renting. If you plan to do this, make sure the home you buy has a big enough lot. In San Diego (city) you need to have double the nominal size for your zone… In our case we needed at least a 10k sf lot since the nominal was 5k. Our lot was big – but on a canyon – so we had the added expense of grading/retaining walls. Unincorporated county has completely different rules. You’ll want to check what the requirements are for a companion unit for whatever city you buy in. San Diego probably has the most restrictive.

But – it’s worked out well (except financially)… my mother in law finds it much easier to care for my wheelchair bound father in law in a house that was designed handicapped accessible from the start. And my kids get to spend quality time with their grandparents – which is HUGE.

[UCGal]

[quote=CA renter]

UCGal,

If you don’t mind my asking, how much did the entire addition cost — fees and permits, design/architectural work, engineering, materials, labor, etc? Also, what are the specifics: attached/detached, size?

We would be interested in doing the same thing when (if??) we buy.

Thanks![/quote]
Our case was about as atypical as possible.

We built a detached companion unit – 700sf. Handicap accessible. A very nice looking “casita”.

Architecture – free. My husband is a registered architect.
It was on a slope, so we had civil engineering – 11k for the civil plan
4k for structural (2k building related, 2k for retaining walls)
10k for geotechnical (aka dirt).

If we had a level lot – you could eliminate the geotechnical, civil, and 2k of the structural… Engineering would have been 2k instead of 25k.

Permits – again atypical because we had the hill issues and had to get a civil permit and a separate permit for the retaining walls that hold the building site in place. The building permit was probably $30k, the others were a lot less. Oh and because of the retaining wall footings, we triggered a CalOSHA permit requirement. (Not at all typical.)

Judging by your screen name, I presume you’re renting. If you plan to do this, make sure the home you buy has a big enough lot. In San Diego (city) you need to have double the nominal size for your zone… In our case we needed at least a 10k sf lot since the nominal was 5k. Our lot was big – but on a canyon – so we had the added expense of grading/retaining walls. Unincorporated county has completely different rules. You’ll want to check what the requirements are for a companion unit for whatever city you buy in. San Diego probably has the most restrictive.

But – it’s worked out well (except financially)… my mother in law finds it much easier to care for my wheelchair bound father in law in a house that was designed handicapped accessible from the start. And my kids get to spend quality time with their grandparents – which is HUGE.

[UCGal]

[quote=CA renter]

UCGal,

If you don’t mind my asking, how much did the entire addition cost — fees and permits, design/architectural work, engineering, materials, labor, etc? Also, what are the specifics: attached/detached, size?

We would be interested in doing the same thing when (if??) we buy.

Thanks![/quote]
Our case was about as atypical as possible.

We built a detached companion unit – 700sf. Handicap accessible. A very nice looking “casita”.

Architecture – free. My husband is a registered architect.
It was on a slope, so we had civil engineering – 11k for the civil plan
4k for structural (2k building related, 2k for retaining walls)
10k for geotechnical (aka dirt).

If we had a level lot – you could eliminate the geotechnical, civil, and 2k of the structural… Engineering would have been 2k instead of 25k.

Permits – again atypical because we had the hill issues and had to get a civil permit and a separate permit for the retaining walls that hold the building site in place. The building permit was probably $30k, the others were a lot less. Oh and because of the retaining wall footings, we triggered a CalOSHA permit requirement. (Not at all typical.)

Judging by your screen name, I presume you’re renting. If you plan to do this, make sure the home you buy has a big enough lot. In San Diego (city) you need to have double the nominal size for your zone… In our case we needed at least a 10k sf lot since the nominal was 5k. Our lot was big – but on a canyon – so we had the added expense of grading/retaining walls. Unincorporated county has completely different rules. You’ll want to check what the requirements are for a companion unit for whatever city you buy in. San Diego probably has the most restrictive.

But – it’s worked out well (except financially)… my mother in law finds it much easier to care for my wheelchair bound father in law in a house that was designed handicapped accessible from the start. And my kids get to spend quality time with their grandparents – which is HUGE.

[UCGal]

[quote=CA renter]

UCGal,

If you don’t mind my asking, how much did the entire addition cost — fees and permits, design/architectural work, engineering, materials, labor, etc? Also, what are the specifics: attached/detached, size?

We would be interested in doing the same thing when (if??) we buy.

Thanks![/quote]
Our case was about as atypical as possible.

We built a detached companion unit – 700sf. Handicap accessible. A very nice looking “casita”.

Architecture – free. My husband is a registered architect.
It was on a slope, so we had civil engineering – 11k for the civil plan
4k for structural (2k building related, 2k for retaining walls)
10k for geotechnical (aka dirt).

If we had a level lot – you could eliminate the geotechnical, civil, and 2k of the structural… Engineering would have been 2k instead of 25k.

Permits – again atypical because we had the hill issues and had to get a civil permit and a separate permit for the retaining walls that hold the building site in place. The building permit was probably $30k, the others were a lot less. Oh and because of the retaining wall footings, we triggered a CalOSHA permit requirement. (Not at all typical.)

Judging by your screen name, I presume you’re renting. If you plan to do this, make sure the home you buy has a big enough lot. In San Diego (city) you need to have double the nominal size for your zone… In our case we needed at least a 10k sf lot since the nominal was 5k. Our lot was big – but on a canyon – so we had the added expense of grading/retaining walls. Unincorporated county has completely different rules. You’ll want to check what the requirements are for a companion unit for whatever city you buy in. San Diego probably has the most restrictive.

But – it’s worked out well (except financially)… my mother in law finds it much easier to care for my wheelchair bound father in law in a house that was designed handicapped accessible from the start. And my kids get to spend quality time with their grandparents – which is HUGE.

[Author]

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