Is Zillow like the weather reporter when it comes to home values in Walpole Mass?
Often times when I meet with sellers of properties about their homes, I ask them what they think their house was worth. A lot of the times, I often hear that they checked their value on Zillow and they will also mention that they are assessed at a different value as well.
I wanted to compare some sales from September in Walpole Massachusetts. There were 29 sales in Walpole Mass in the month of September. That is almost a sales a day for the whole month. The range of prices for the sales in Walpole was from $209,000 up to $954,000.
The median price of the sales in Walpole was $490,000. Just as a refresher, the word median is In statistics and probability theory, the median is the numerical value separating the higher half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution, from the lower half. The median of a finite list of numbers can be found by arranging all the observations from lowest value to highest value and picking the middle one (e.g., the median of {3, 3, 5, 9, 11} is 5). The average sales price in Walpole for the month of September was $485,106.
I decided that I would look at some random individual properties spread across all price points and compare these properties selling prices against their Zillow Zestimates and their assessed values.
Here are the properties:
4 Mason Street in Walpole, Mass.
This property listed for $225,000 and sold for $209,000. The Town of Walpole Assessors Department had it assessed at $250,700. Zillow had the Zestimate on this one at $274,686. The difference between the actual sales price and Zillow's Zestimate on this one was 24% over the actual sales price.
573 Common Street in Walpole, Mass.
573 Common Street in Walpole listed for $299,900 and sold for $297,000. The Walpole Assessor's Department had this one valued at $267,200. Zillow had this property pegged at $290,609. Zillow was pretty close on this one. Only under by $9,000. That is a little better than it's Zestimate on 4 Mason Street which was $50,000 over the actual sales price.
15 Plain Street in Walpole, Mass
15 Plain Street in Walpole had been on the market in the multiple listing service for $449,900. The sales price for this single family home was $415,000. The town's assessed value on this property was $405,200. Zillow did not have a a value on this one.
50 Norfolk Street in Walpole, Mass
50 Norfolk Street in Walpole, Mass was on the market with a list price of $439,900. It sold at full asking price. The town had it assessed at $320,000. Zillow had the value at $404,000. The property sold for $35,000 over the Zillow Zestimate.
74 Lewis Avenue in Walpole, Mass
The property at 74 Lewis Avenue in Walpole, Mass listed for $569,800 and sold for $550,000. The town had it assessed for $450,000 which is $100,000 less than the actual sales price. Zillow had 74 Lewis at $533,000. They were 17k under.
28 Butch Songin Cirle in Walpole, Mass
This property listed for for $629,000 and sold for $592,000. Walpole assessing has this one at $541,600. The folks at Zillow thought this one was worth $584,928. Zillow had it undervalued by about 9k.
Assessed Values Versus Sales Prices in Walpole Mass for Homes Sold in September
|
MLS # |
Street Address |
Town |
List Price |
Sales Price |
Assessed Value |
|
71322827 |
4 Mason St |
Walpole, MA |
$225,000.00 |
$209,000.00 |
$250,700.00 |
|
71556917 |
24 Pilgrim Way |
Walpole, MA |
$639,900.00 |
$610,000.00 |
$0.00 |
|
71614006 |
1915 Washington St Ext. |
Walpole, MA |
$395,000.00 |
$372,500.00 |
$483,300.00 |
|
71634027 |
45 Water Street |
Walpole, MA |
$265,000.00 |
$220,000.00 |
$250,600.00 |
|
71634928 |
620 Main St |
Walpole, MA |
$224,900.00 |
$226,000.00 |
$227,900.00 |
|
71646183 |
103 Common Street |
Walpole, MA |
$545,900.00 |
$530,000.00 |
$505,700.00 |
|
71646891 |
11 Brook Street |
Walpole, MA |
$995,000.00 |
$954,000.00 |
$860,600.00 |
|
71660299 |
15 Lester Gray Drive |
Walpole, MA |
$863,545.00 |
$927,167.00 |
$0.00 |
|
71667108 |
7 Ginley Road |
Walpole, MA |
$499,900.00 |
$495,000.00 |
$373,300.00 |
|
71671273 |
14 Brook St |
Walpole, MA |
$769,000.00 |
$735,000.00 |
$629,300.00 |
|
71671783 |
22 NEAL STREET |
Walpole, MA |
$455,000.00 |
$425,000.00 |
$356,500.00 |
|
71675543 |
15 Plain Street |
Walpole, MA |
$449,900.00 |
$415,000.00 |
$405,200.00 |
|
71676480 |
30 Albany Rd. |
Walpole, MA |
$549,900.00 |
$539,000.00 |
$438,600.00 |
|
71681280 |
28 Butch Songin Circle |
Walpole, MA |
$629,900.00 |
$592,000.00 |
$541,600.00 |
|
71683081 |
7 Nottingham Way |
Walpole, MA |
$539,900.00 |
$525,000.00 |
$413,500.00 |
|
71689765 |
3 Marguerite Rd. |
Walpole, MA |
$449,900.00 |
$428,500.00 |
$368,600.00 |
|
71695478 |
573 Common St |
Walpole, MA |
$299,900.00 |
$297,000.00 |
$267,200.00 |
|
71697555 |
27 Ridge Road |
Walpole, MA |
$579,900.00 |
$561,500.00 |
$536,000.00 |
|
71699850 |
50 Norfolk St |
Walpole, MA |
$439,900.00 |
$439,900.00 |
$320,700.00 |
|
71702063 |
22 Pilgrim Way |
Walpole, MA |
$499,900.00 |
$500,000.00 |
$363,900.00 |
|
71704599 |
47 Robbins Rd |
Walpole, MA |
$424,900.00 |
$439,000.00 |
$306,800.00 |
|
71707378 |
60 Rhoades Ave |
Walpole, MA |
$445,000.00 |
$416,500.00 |
$301,900.00 |
|
71708099 |
31 Clark Ave |
Walpole, MA |
$279,900.00 |
$250,000.00 |
$306,600.00 |
|
71711464 |
37 Anderson Way |
Walpole, MA |
$814,900.00 |
$800,000.00 |
$0.00 |
|
71711633 |
9 Sandra Road |
Walpole, MA |
$499,000.00 |
$490,000.00 |
$267,400.00 |
|
71716429 |
74 Lewis Ave |
Walpole, MA |
$569,800.00 |
$550,000.00 |
$450,000.00 |
|
71717263 |
40 Jasons Path |
Walpole, MA |
$559,900.00 |
$551,000.00 |
$493,800.00 |
|
71731773 |
12 Grace Memorial Drive |
Walpole, MA |
$319,900.00 |
$310,000.00 |
$286,500.00 |
|
71739615 |
3 Adams Rd |
Walpole, MA |
$260,000.00 |
$260,000.00 |
$248,600.00
|
Look up Your Assessed Value of Your Walpole Home
The Town of Walpole Assessors database is online. You can look up the value of your Walpole home at any given time by simply visiting the assessors web site @ http://gis.vgsi.com/walpolema/Search.aspx Once on this web site, you will be able to conduct your research. For the older folks in the crowd, once you visit this site you will be shocked to discover that nothing is sacred anymore.
The Moral of the Story
The moral of the story is that neither Zillow's Zestimate nor the town's assessed value seems to have any bearing on the actual fair market value of the property. The true market value is more accurately obtained by calling a professional Realtor who works in the market and studies homes and prices on a daily basis. As you could see from the sales listed above, the sales prices versus the list prices were the only ones that were fairly close each time. The assessed value and the Zestimate were generally off. I am not discounting either of these values. The only real difference between the various different methods of obtaining value is that the the prices on MLS (list prices and sales prices) are interpreted by real humans. These humans are the Realtors who work in the Walpole area and sell single family homes to your neighbors and friends.
When is the last time the computer on the desk at the Zillow headquarters or at the Town of Walpole assessor's department actually went to an open house to study the nuances between two identical homes built in the same subdivision that had a variance of 50k due to the lot being close to power lines or may be more prone to water in the basement which ultimately will be reflected in the value that a buyer perceives.
The bottomline here is that the computers do a wonderful job of aggregating data and making it available to humans. However, you really need to evaluate it carefully when interpreting it. The data in real estate varies from property to property. There are topographical issues, environmental issues and general maintenance and upkeep issues. These cannot be obtained by a computer in the Silicon Valley. It's a nice concept, but in reality not going to happen.
If you need the value of your home, it would be my pleasure to assist you in this matter. Often times, I help people with the value of their properties for estate planning reasons, marital breakups, financial planning related issues such as deciding to secure a home equity line for paying for college, or perhaps using the property's equity to keep an elder person in their home and use equity via a reverse mortgage. There is no obligation for a market analysis. Should you need help with your home's value you begin the process instantly by visiting www.HomeValueBoston.com When you want the facts about your most important investment, it is better to trust an expert.
If you are considering a move into Walpole, you owe it to yourself to meet with a qualified Walpole Realtor just to ensure that you are understanding values in the real estate here in town. Questions? Call or Text 617-980-9025
Get the Value of Your Norfolk County Home Here
Contact me if you would like a market analysis of your Walpole home. You can reach me at 617-980-9025 or via email @ [email protected]
Michael Mahoney is a 13+ year veteran real estate agent. Michael Mahoney is associated with Re/Max Executive at 14 North Meadows Road in Medfield, MA 02052.
Great Read!!
Posted by: Alex Seifart | October 09, 2014 at 12:01 PM
Great post and insight Mike!
Posted by: Eric Kipnes | October 09, 2014 at 12:07 PM