Do Zillow ‘Zestimates’ mislead home buyers? Lawsuit claims yes. Suburban Chicago home builders filed legal action last week against the real estate marketing company Zillow, whose at-your-fingertips property value approximations are misleading home buyers with lowball figures that roil sellers, the suit claims. The so-called Zestimates that the Seattle-based Zillow app has calculated since 2006 pose as accurate appraisals in violation of the legal description in Illinois of an appraisal, which needs to be conducted by a licensed appraiser, according to the class-action complaint. Zillow, for its part, maintains that its approximations are not actual appraisals, nor do they claim to be.

1. The Real Estate Report
Not included are location nuances: is the property
on a quiet street or next to a main thoroughfare.
Not included are upgrades: did the owners remove
that cheap carpeting and replace it with hardwood
floors? Were the appliances replaced with high-end
hardware? Granite countertops or tile? Dual-pane
windows to replace single-pane windows. The list
goes on.
There are three ways to get an accurate estimate
of your home’s worth.
Hire an appraiser. That costs money and they will
be conservative.
(Continued on page 4)
DoZillow‘Zestimates’misleadhomebuyers?
Lawsuitclaimsyes.
Suburban Chicago home builders filed legal action
last week against the real estate marketing
company Zillow, whose at-your-fingertips property-
value approximations are misleading home buyers
with lowball figures that roil sellers, the suit claims.
The so-called Zestimates that the Seattle-based
Zillow app has calculated since 2006 pose as
accurate appraisals in violation of the legal
description in Illinois of an appraisal, which needs
to be conducted by a licensed appraiser, according
to the class-action complaint.
Zillow, for its part, maintains that its approximations
are not actual appraisals, nor do they claim to be.
“We believe the claims in this case are without
merit. We always say that the Zestimate is a
starting point to determine a home’s value, and
isn’t an official appraisal. It’s a computer-automated
estimate of your home’s value,” Emily Heffter, a
Zillow spokeswoman, told MarketWatch.
Zillow says its value estimates are based on public
records and other data using “a proprietary
formula.” Public records such as those posted on
property-tax assessment sites can also be far off
prevailing sales prices. Zillow also provides a
disclaimer about the accuracy of its
approximations.
In Chicago, a Zestimate comes within 5.9% of the
eventual sale price just over 44% of the time.
Nationwide, Zillow Zestimates are within 5% of the
actual sale price 53.9% of the time, within 10% of
the sale price 75.6% of the time and within 20% of
the closing price 89.7% of the time, according to
the company.
Wow, that’s not even good enough for government
work!
As we wrote in this space last August, there is no
way a computer program can give an accurate
price for homes.
The problem begins with the fact that each home is
different. Homes aren’t like stock shares. Each
share of Apple stock, for instance, is exactly the
same as every other share of Apple stock.
Homes, on the other hand, are each completely
different, regardless of whether they were built by
the same builder and have the same plan.
The major problem with all automated home
estimate sites is they are limited to the data on
hand. Typically, that includes only square footage,
number of beds and baths, recent sales prices and
assessor tax values.
Hill & Company
1880 Lombard Street
San, Francisco 94123
Fax: (415) 202-1686
Cell: (415) 819-2663
AnnieWilliamsSF@gmail.com
http://www.anniewilliamshomes.com
DRE #01393923
Annie Williams
ANNIE WILLIAMS | FAX: (415) 202-1686 | ANNIEWILLIAMSSF@GMAIL.COM
Zillow Sued Over Zestimates
Local Market Trends June/July 2017San Francisco
May 17 Apr 17 May 16
Home Sales: 212 192 311
Median Price: 1,512,338$ 1,402,500$ 1,200,000$
Average Price: 1,860,795$ 1,839,603$ 1,422,003$
SP/LP: 111.1% 109.8% 110.9%
Days on Market: 24 26 28
May 17 Apr 17 May 16
Condo Sales: 216 221 281
Median Price: 1,200,000$ 1,100,000$ 1,050,000$
Average Price: 1,371,817$ 1,307,321$ 1,222,169$
SP/LP: 104.5% 103.3% 105.0%
Days on Market: 30 33 33
(Lofts/Tow nhomes/TIC)
Trends at a Glance
(Single-family Homes)
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San Francisco Homes: Sales Momentum
Sales Pricing © 2017 rereport.com

2. Jun. 2, 2017 -- Even with a Monday holiday, there
was lots of fresh data out this week for markets to
consider, but most of it seemed to tend toward the
softer side of things. As expected, mortgage rates
were mostly level this week, but current indications
are that we might see a bit of a decline next week,
should markets hold where they are at the moment.
Spending on new construction projects dropped off in
April. The overall decline of 1.4 percent in outlays
contained no bright spots this time around, as outlays
for residential projects fell 0.7 percent, commercial
construction dipped by 0.6 percent, and spending on
public-works projects slumped by 3.7 percent. The
residential figure is surprising, but already suspected
from the easing in the housing starts report; commer-
cial interests are probably growing a little wary given
the troubles that retailers are having, but there should
be plenty of public works projects that need attention.
Spending on roads and schools and the like using
taxpayer dollars have now declined in four of the last
six months.
A spate of mostly modest to moderate date (to bor-
row a phrase from the Beige Book) and a lack of
emergent price pressures would be sufficient to trim
interest rates a little bit even if we didn't continue to
have a difficult political climate.
Expectations for significant tax and regulatory relief
haven't completely bled out of the market, but those
hopes have faded considerably on recent months,
tempering the outlook and expectation that the econ-
omy will soon be growing faster. Collectively, the
environment is sufficient to keep rates both low and
stable, and we'll need to see some warmer news to
move rates up. That may come, but probably not next
week; based upon where we finished this one, we
are likely looking at another 3-4 basis point decline in
the average conforming 30-year fixed rate mortgage
as reported by Freddie come next Thursday morning.
ANNIE WILLIAMS
HILL & COMPANY
FAX: (415) 202-1686
ANNIEWILLIAMSSF@GMAIL.COM
DRE #01393923
2 Local Market Trends | San Francisco |
Softer Data, Softer Rates
The chart above shows the National
monthly average for 30-year fixed rate mort-
gages as compiled by HSH.com. The aver-
age includes mortgages of all sizes, includ-
ing conforming, "expanded conforming,"
and jumbo.
June/July 2017
3.0% 4.0% 5.0% 6.0% 7.0% 8.0%
01-08
07-08
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01-17
30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates
Unit
Median Average Sales DOM SP/LP Median Average Sales Median Average Sales
San Francisco 1,512,338$ 1,860,795$ 212 24 111.1% 26.0% 30.9% -31.8% 7.8% 1.2% 10.4%
D1: Northwest 1,625,000$ 1,949,000$ 13 22 112.0% -14.5% -5.4% -23.5% -9.1% -18.4% -7.1%
D2: Central West 1,519,838$ 1,512,909$ 42 14 123.8% 26.7% 18.3% -4.5% 12.6% 5.3% 20.0%
D3: Southwest 1,180,000$ 1,126,577$ 13 28 114.7% 21.2% 2.1% -35.0% -11.3% -17.7% 116.7%
D4: Twin Peaks 1,425,000$ 1,630,545$ 25 26 115.3% -1.7% 8.4% -13.8% -12.7% -11.3% -3.8%
D5: Central 2,487,500$ 2,838,848$ 36 33 107.4% 4.4% 14.0% 38.5% 1.5% 11.3% 24.1%
D6: Central North -$ -$ 0 0 0.0% n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
D7: North 3,700,000$ 5,319,364$ 11 20 99.8% -17.8% 0.2% -15.4% -39.3% -1.1% 10.0%
D8: Northeast 2,100,000$ 2,165,000$ 3 29 105.6% n/a n/a n/a -36.4% -34.4% 50.0%
D9: Central East 1,587,500$ 1,681,118$ 24 20 113.0% -5.2% -0.4% 41.2% 9.3% 15.4% -7.7%
D10: Southeast 930,000$ 947,707$ 45 25 114.0% 9.4% 4.3% 36.4% 5.1% 4.4% 7.1%
May Sales Statistics
(Single-family Homes)
Prices Yearly Change Monthly Change
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San Francisco Homes: Sold Prices & Unit Sales
(3-month moving average — $000's)
Ave Med Units © 2017 rereport.com

3. Table Definitions
_______________
Median Price
The price at which 50% of prices
were higher and 50% were lower.
Average Price
Add all prices and divide by the
number of sales.
SP/LP
Sales price to list price ratio or the
price paid for the property divided
by the asking price.
DOI
Days of Inventory, or how many
days it would take to sell all the
property for sale at the current rate
of sales.
Pend
Property under contract to sell that
hasn’t closed escrow.
Inven
Number pf properties actively for
sale as of the last day of the month.
Local Market Trends | San Francisco | 3June/July 2017
Unit
Median Average Sales DOM SP/LP Median Average Sales Median Average Sales
San Francisco 1,200,000$ 1,371,817$ 216 30 104.5% 14.3% 12.2% -23.1% 9.1% 4.9% -2.3%
D1: Northwest 1,230,000$ 1,215,778$ 9 13 117.8% 16.0% 11.6% -30.8% -18.9% -19.3% 50.0%
D2: Central West 1,217,500$ 1,253,750$ 4 12 115.6% 26.9% 24.5% 0.0% n/a n/a n/a
D3: Southwest 706,400$ 706,400$ 2 17 105.1% 6.4% 6.4% 0.0% 1.6% -20.0% -60.0%
D4: Twin Peaks 739,500$ 682,606$ 4 52 108.4% 12.4% 2.1% 33.3% 2.0% -13.5% -20.0%
D5: Central 1,300,000$ 1,294,862$ 39 24 107.3% -5.8% -12.6% 62.5% -0.8% -4.9% 11.4%
D6: Central North 1,150,000$ 1,342,186$ 21 25 108.3% -3.4% 19.5% 23.5% -3.8% 16.2% -16.0%
D7: North 1,635,000$ 1,819,014$ 36 17 104.7% 15.3% 8.2% 71.4% 13.5% -13.7% 28.6%
D8: Northeast 1,222,000$ 1,515,641$ 39 38 102.0% 11.6% 5.8% -25.0% 34.7% 27.3% 21.9%
D9: Central East 1,156,544$ 1,272,474$ 52 41 101.0% -2.8% -8.1% -38.8% 11.7% 9.8% -37.3%
D10: Southeast 594,900$ 675,451$ 8 47 99.2% -23.8% -13.5% 300.0% -28.4% -18.7% 300.0%
May Sales Statistics
(Condos/TICs/Co-ops/Lofts)
Prices Yearly Change Monthly Change
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San Francisco Condos: Sold Prices & Unit Sales
(3-month moving average — $000's)
Ave Med Units © 2017 rereport.com
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A
San Francisco Homes: Days on Market
© 2017 rereport.com
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San Francisco Condos/Lofts: SalesMomentum
Sales Pricing © 2017 rereport.com
ANNIE WILLIAMS
HILL & COMPANY
FAX: (415) 202-1686
ANNIEWILLIAMSSF@GMAIL.COM
DRE #01393923

4. THE REAL ESTATE REPORT
San Francisco
This Real Estate Report is published and copyrighted by http://rereport.com.
Information contained herein is deemed accurate and correct, but no warranty is implied or given.
Annie Williams
Hill & Company
1880 Lombard Street
San, Francisco 94123
Go online to see the full report with the district by district breakdown:
Have a local REALTOR® come by to
look at your property. A local
REALTOR® will be familiar with your
community, what’s sold, the condition
of the property, what’s for sale and
how desirable the property is in today’s
market.
The third way is to do it yourself.
You’ve probably lived in the
neighborhood for years and visited with
your neighbors so you know what has
been done to their homes. Plus, with
our Recent Sales & Listings module,
available on our on-line Market Trends
Report, you can keep track of the
activity going on in your neighborhood.
Remember, in the final analysis, your
home is worth what you and a ready,
willing and able buyer decide it’s worth.
If you are thinking of selling your home
and would like a proper estimate of
what it will sell for in today’s market,
call me, please.
(Continued from page 1)
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San Francisco Homes: Year-Over-Year Median SalesPrice Change
© 2017 rereport.com
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San Francisco Condos/Lofts: Year-Over-Year Median Sales Price Change
© 2017 rereport.com