The 4 Major Differences Between Zillow and Redfin (2024)

FAQs

The 4 Major Differences Between Zillow and Redfin? ›

Redfin's home value estimator is more accurate than Zillow's when it comes to pinpointing the sales price. According to Redfin, its estimates are approximately 74% accurate within 5% of the sales price for listed homes. By comparison, Zillow is only 67% accurate within 5% of the sale price for listed homes.

Redfin's home value estimator is more accurate than Zillow's when it comes to pinpointing the sales price. According to Redfin, its estimates are approximately 74% accurate within 5% of the sales price for listed homes. By comparison, Zillow is only 67% accurate within 5% of the sale price for listed homes.

In a nutshell, Redfin is a real estate brokerage as well as an iBuyer (instant home buyer) that purchases homes directly from sellers in select states. Zillow is an online real estate marketplace where people can browse listings and connect with agents who advertise on the site.

About Zillow

Zillow is not a brokerage—it is an online real estate listing site. Contrary to Redfin, transactions don't happen through Zillow; it's a source to find listings. Sellers or agents manually list properties on the site; they're not automatically pulled from the MLS.

1. Redfin. The most accurate home value estimator is Redfin as it uses historical pricing data and also considers real-time demand and market trends. Redfin estimates are more accurate than Zillow, and the interface is intuitive, making it easy to find exactly what you're looking for.

Neither site is perfectly accurate for home estimates, but Zillow is generally considered the market leader for home estimation services. Zillow's service also provides more estimates than Redfin's does, which allows Redfin to be more accurate, especially for homes that have been listed recently.

How accurate is the Zestimate? The nationwide median error rate for the Zestimate for on-market homes is 2.4%, while the Zestimate for off-market homes has a median error rate of 7.49%.

Is Realtor.com or Zillow more Accurate? This is another frequently asked question from home sellers and buyers. The main difference between Realtor.com home values and Zillow Zestimates is that Zillow uses its own program to create a Zestimate, while Realtor.com uses several 3rd parties to provide multiple home values.

Zillow receives about 60 million monthly visits, whereas Realtor.com receives around 40 million. Zillow also has wider listings, as they feature FSBO (For Sale By Owner) listings, which Realtor.com lacks as they only feature MLS listings submitted by agents.

The Redfin Estimate is highly accurate, with a current median error rate of just 2.10% for homes that are for sale, and 6.41% for off market homes. This means that when a home that is currently on the market sells, the Redfin Estimate will be within 2.10% of the sales price half of the time.

Who is the biggest competitor of Zillow? ›

Zillow's most well-known and comprehensive competitor is Redfin. Redfin goes beyond listings, functioning as a full-service real estate brokerage with real estate agents all over the country. This makes it especially popular with tech-savvy people who want to streamline the selling or homebuying process online.

This means that the homeowner is not actively trying to sell their home - or if they are, they are not doing it through a public channel. Sometimes it can also refer to a home that will be for sale, but hasn't been actively listed yet.

The Zillow algorithm changed

Zillow values homes based on an algorithm. When the algorithm changes, your estimate will likely change too. Zillow changes its algorithm frequently, with consistent small updates and occasional major updates.

Several studies demonstrate that it's possible Zillow can be accurate within 80-90% of the value of a home. This means that its estimates can be a good starting point. However, when you want to price a home to sell or know what a home is worth so you can buy now, its numbers are not accurate enough.

Zillow is among the most popular home value websites, and its Zestimate for on-market homes (meaning, homes that are currently listed for sale) has a median error rate of 2.0% as of February 2022. This is pretty good! And bonus points for the company's transparency in explaining how their models work.

You can determine home value by using an online valuation tool, hiring an appraiser, using a real estate agent, or checking comparable homes in your area. Using an online valuation tool or pulling comps in your neighborhood is easy and quick, but you'll receive more accurate results using a REALTOR® or appraiser.

Zillow has higher real estate commissions.

This is a consistent practice among Realtors, with 3 percent designated for the listing broker and 3 percent going to the buyer's agent. Because Redfin is a brokerage as well as a listings aggregator, commissions can be as low as 1 percent of the selling price.

The Zestimate is often less accurate than your Realtor's estimate and can be thousands of dollars off. According to Zillow's Zestimate page, “The nationwide median error rate for the Zestimate for on-market homes is 1.9%, while the Zestimate for off-market homes has a median error rate of 7.5%.

It's likely that all homes have a lower estimated Zestimate than actual value. So, on the basis of time frame, Zillow is picking bad comparables. If your Zestimate includes homes that were sold over 3 months ago, that's going to be one key reason your Zestimate is so low.

How does Zillow predict home values? ›

We use data on a number of housing indicators as well as general economic indicators. The housing indicators include the mortgage interest rate, property tax rate, construction costs, number of vacant homes, percentage of loans that are subprime, percentage of delinquent loans and supply of homes for sale.

What is a ZestimateⓇ? Zillow's Zestimate is an estimate of value using a proprietary formula created by the online real estate database company. Zestimates cover more than 100 million homes across the United States. A Zestimate is calculated from physical attributes, tax records, and user submitted data.

While Zillow has 50-80 fields of information and pictures about the properties, an average MLS has more than 300. That means Zillow provides limited information about a property. In contrast, an MLS includes all the market times, listing information, photos, unsuccessful listings that date 10 to 20 years back.

Why are there two listing categories? With so many types of home sales, sorting through listings can be a challenge. To give you a quick way to filter your search, we've grouped listings into two categories: Agent Listings and Other Listings. You can easily toggle back and forth to find great homes in each group.

It's a fact that the huge power of Zillow.com is only available to US and USA territories located property listings. Realtors with international listings cannot list international property on Zillow.

Realtor.com Profile Report

The Profile Performance Report will provide information about your agent profile exposure, including profile leads via phone and email, impressions, and total views from visitors to your profile page.

There is a “Write a Review” link on your profile that clients can click on to submit a review for you. It is important to note that a consumer will be prompted to register for a Zillow account after they submit a review for you if they are not already signed into one.

Most of the time, Zillow and Redfin have different estimates for your house because they have slightly different approaches to calculating home values. However, if there's a big gap between your Zestimate and Redfin Estimate, it may mean that one company has inaccurate information about your home.

Redfin bases its prices on what it believes is an accurate offer based on the market. The company's streamlined process doesn't leave room for much negotiation, but Redfin says it may consider an updated offer if the market has changed since the initial offer or if they missed something important during the inspection.

First, visit your Owner Dashboard by selecting 'My Home' on the bottom icons. Select the home you'd like to unclaim. Next, select the three dots in the top-right corner of the Owner Dashboard page. Now, a menu will appear, select 'Unclaim this Home' to remove this home from your Owner Dashboard.

What is the best MLS website? ›

Realtor.com is affiliated with the National Association of Realtors and uses MLS listings which are sourced from around 580 regional databases and considered the gold standard for quality listings.6 For this reason, Realtor.com is our pick for most accurate real estate website.

Zillow benefits from the power of network effects. By developing the most popular means of searching for real estate, it attracts buyers and sellers in a virtuous cycle. It has cemented an incredibly strong position with a near-impenetrable moat from competition. This is Zillow's key strength.

Contingent means “depending on certain circ*mstances.” In real estate, when a house is listed as contingent, it means that an offer has been made and accepted, but before the deal is complete, some additional criteria must be met.

Navigate to the property page with the price history that requires an update. From the More drop-down tab on the listing, click Report problem with listing. When prompted, select Price/tax history from the list of options.

The pending sale will go back to active if the loan is rejected due to a buyer's impulse financing. It's also possible that buyers might not have knowledge of liens or judgments filed against them. This can also affect their creditworthiness so the loan the buyer thought he had in place can ultimately be denied.

How to change your Zestimate. One of the easiest ways to change your Zesimate is by editing your home's facts on the site. A real appraiser will look at the features of your home to decide it's worth. Now you can update your home facts in Zillow to reflect some of the things an appraisal would typically show.

The median error rate for a Zillow Zestimate is 7.5 percent higher than the property's actual value at the time of sale while Redfin's residential home value estimator is only off by 1.5 percent from the actual sales price.

If you see a home's price on Zillow (or other sites), is it typically negotiable and the seller/realtor priced purposefully higher? Depends entirely on the market, but yes, it is negotiable. In much of the world, the asking price is the hoped for price, and you are absolutely free to put in a lower offer.

Accuracy of Zestimates

According to Zillow's website, Zestimate's nationwide median error rate for active listings is 3.2%. 3 For off-market homes, it's now 6.9%. 4 Zestimates are only as accurate as the data behind them.

Is zestimate close to appraisal? ›

The Zestimate is not an appraisal and it should be used as a starting point. We encourage buyers, sellers and homeowners to supplement the Zestimate with other research such as visiting the home, getting a professional appraisal of the home, or requesting a comparative market analysis (CMA) from a real estate agent.”

There's an acceptable variance when it comes to home appraisals. It usually depends on the prevailing market conditions. In markets with favorable conditions, the difference should be between 2% and 3% of the other values. For markets with challenging conditions, a 10% difference may be acceptable.

A Zestimate is Zillow's estimated market value for a home, computed using a proprietary formula including public and user-submitted data, such as details about a home (bedrooms, bathrooms, home age, etc.), location, property tax assessment information and sales histories of the subject home as well as other homes that ...

Zillow and Redfin's home value algorithms are more reliable for general estimates than precise ones. Both companies are very accurate — about 98% — when estimating within 20% of a home's sale price. But that accuracy drops to just 67-74% when estimating within 5% of the sales price.

Quantarium Valuation Model (QVM) provides the most current and accurate property valuations to a broad spectrum of customers, including lenders, mortgage banks, brokers, originators, servicers, insurance agencies and appraisers.

The Bottom Line

Narrow down your search by location, wants and needs, house types and affordability. Make sure also to get a home inspection and consider any other essential factors. Most importantly, work with a real estate agent who understands what you want - and always follow your gut.

If you see the word “contingent” on your listing, it means that your buyer is working through any contingencies that were a part of their offer — like a financing contingency, home inspection contingency, or buyer home sale contingency.

Active listings will show a Time on Zillow counter, as well as the number of Views and Saves for a property. When viewing an active listing, the total number of Views and Saves displaying on the listing includes the number of views and saves from the past 30 days the home has been on the market.

Opendoor pays cash for houses and closes on homes in 10 to 14 days, much faster than the traditional process. Redfin used to offer a similar service, before it laid off 13% of its workforce and closed its iBuyer program. Cost is an important factor to consider before selling to an iBuyer.

Can you trust Zillow estimates? ›

Share: Zillow's Zestimate has been found to have a nationwide error rate of 1.9 percent for on-market homes. When it comes to estimating home values for off-market housing, the error rate jumps to 6.9 percent. Overall, Zestimate accuracy is between 95% and 96%, so it's pretty accurate in most cases.

Most of the time, Zillow and Redfin have different estimates for your house because they have slightly different approaches to calculating home values. However, if there's a big gap between your Zestimate and Redfin Estimate, it may mean that one company has inaccurate information about your home.

A “good” number of saves can vary depending on the area, market, and type of home. An older Zillow study revealed that more than 50% of homes that are saved 40 or more times in their first week on the market sell for more than their initial list prices.

As soon as listings go live, users start to “favorite” them on Zillow. Favoriting a home shows more intent than just browsing: It's a way for people to catalog listings so they can return to or share them with someone later.

The Owner Dashboard is a personalized view of your home and shows you stats like how many people are viewing your listing, gives you easy access to edit your home information, and more. Check out your Owner Dashboard by entering your address here.

Opendoor may take advantage of those who are unaware of market rates and don't have a firm grasp on the real estate industry. They may do this by offering to buy your home below market value or deducting significant proceeds from the offer price to fund repair costs. Repair costs are at their discretion.

In the first nine months of 2020 alone, Zillow had a 25% market share of homes bought or sold over the internet. Conversely, Redfin holds a market share of 1.14% in the U.S. residential market overall. This number fluctuates often, and Zillow and Redfin have both seen market shares top the other's in the past.

Sellers who work with Opendoor skip the costly preparation, frequent showings, and months of uncertainty that come with the traditional process. Instead of listing your home on the market and waiting to find a buyer, Opendoor purchases your home from you.

What is a Hot Home? A Hot Home is a home that we think will sell within the first two weeks of being listed on the market.

Redfin aims to give you an advantage by identifying Hot Homes^™ that are likely to sell quickly, so you know which homes to go see in person right away. A Hot Home is a home for sale that is expected to be among the most competitive homes on the market, according to the proprietary Redfin Hot Homes algorithm.