Question 1

Is there a website that tells me how much my house is worth?

Accepted Answer

Yes, several, and they are free: Zillow's Zestimate, Redfin's Estimate, Realtor.com, Homes.com, and the estimators run by large lenders such as Chase and Bank of America all return a figure from your address in seconds. They are automated valuation models, built from public records and nearby sales, and they are a reasonable starting point. By Zillow's own published accuracy figures the typical error is about 2 percent for a home already listed for sale and about 7 percent for one that is not, and in the Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Arcadia markets Anne Sostman of The Brokery sees the miss widen further, because these neighborhoods mix rebuilt and original homes on the same street. Use the website number to orient, then have the figure checked against closed sales for your actual home before you make a decision on it.

Question 2

How accurate are online home value estimates?

Accepted Answer

Nationally, Zillow reports a median error of roughly 2 percent on homes that are on the market and roughly 7 percent on homes that are not, and half of all off-market estimates miss by more than that. On a $1.6 million North Scottsdale house a 7 percent miss is about $112,000 in either direction. The error is not random: an algorithm averages the street, so it is most wrong where the street is least uniform. Anne Sostman's ARMLS pull for 85018 shows why Arcadia is the hardest case: new builds sold at a $2.1 million median and $619 per square foot while original-condition homes on the same blocks sold at $1.04 million and $512, so an average of the two describes neither house.

Question 3

Why is my Zestimate so different from what my neighbor's house sold for?

Accepted Answer

Because the model cannot see condition, lot value, view, or whether the house next door was a teardown sold for its land. In Paradise Valley, where Anne Sostman tracks 224 subdivisions across 359 house sales a year, age moves price more than location does: homes built since 2023 sold at a $9.1 million median and $1,250 per square foot, while pre-2000 homes sold at $3.5 million and $757. A neighbor's sale in the other age band tells an algorithm almost nothing about yours, and it tells the algorithm that anyway.

Question 4

What is the most accurate way to find out what my house is worth?

Accepted Answer

A comparative market analysis built from recent closed sales of the same product type in your specific pocket, adjusted by someone who has walked your home. Anne Sostman of The Brokery prepares hers from ARMLS closed sales, single family only, never blended with condos, and delivers the number in writing with the comparables beside it, so a seller can check the work. That analysis is complimentary and carries no obligation to list.

Question 5

Does Anne Sostman offer an instant home value estimate?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The instant estimate on this page takes an address and returns a preliminary figure from recent comparable sales in the same way the portals do, and it is offered with the same caveat: it is a starting point. What follows it is the part a website cannot do. Anne Sostman refines the figure into a property-specific valuation for the home's condition, upgrades, lot and competitive set, in writing, before a seller decides anything.

Question 6

Should I price my home from the Zillow number?

Accepted Answer

No. The closed record shows what pricing to the wrong number costs: across 5,600 Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Arcadia closings analysed by Anne Sostman, homes that had to cut their price took 102 to 142 days to go under contract and kept 85 to 90 percent of original asking, while homes priced right on day one sold in about a month at 96 to 98 percent. The list price is the single largest decision in a sale, and it should rest on closed comparables, not a website's average of the street.

Is there a website that tells me how much my house is worth?

The websites, and what each one is.

Where the websites miss, in numbers.

Want the instant number anyway? Here it is.

How this was put together

Prefer the number a website cannot give you?