Zillow Zestimates — Helpful Tool or Price Trap?

 Are Zillow’s Zestimates your secret weapon—or your biggest home-selling trap? 👀 

🏡 Episode Summary

In this episode of Off the Record, Joe and Makayla pull back the curtain on Zillow’s Zestimate—that number every homeowner loves (or hates) to check. They break down how Zestimates are calculated, what they get right, and the major blind spots that can seriously mislead buyers and sellers. From missing upgrades and neighborhood nuances to how emotion and experience still beat algorithms, this episode reveals what really determines a home’s value in today’s market.

You’ll also catch some fun off-topic banter—like pest control horror stories, Halloween antics, and the surprisingly deep connection between chickens and rats 🐔🐀—because that’s the charm of going Off the Record.

By the end, you’ll know exactly how to use (and not misuse) Zestimates when it comes to pricing, buying, or selling a home in the Portland metro area.

⏱️ Episode Highlights

[00:12:00] – What a Zestimate really is: Joe explains how Zillow’s algorithm combines MLS data, tax records, and AI to generate home value estimates.

[00:14:00] – The pros: Makayla and Joe agree it’s a quick, convenient snapshot that gives homeowners transparency and engagement.

[00:17:00] – The cons: Why Zillow can’t see your home’s true upgrades, location quirks, or emotional value.

[00:18:40] – Unrealistic expectations: How Zestimates can set sellers up for disappointment—and how agents reset those expectations with real data.

[00:20:00] – Accuracy check: Zillow claims a 2–5% accuracy rate for active listings, but Joe reveals why that number isn’t the whole story.

[00:22:00] – When Zestimates fail: From rural properties to luxury estates, Joe and Makayla share why the algorithm breaks down when homes get unique.

[00:24:00] – The smart way to use Zestimates: Use it as a conversation starter, not a pricing strategy—and always get a human expert’s insight.

👥 About the Hosts

Joe Reitzug and Makayla Mast are Portland-based real estate experts and hosts of Off the Record, where they blend humor, insight, and deep industry experience to give listeners the real scoop on buying, selling, and living in Oregon.
Explore more at livportland.com
.

🔗 Resources Mentioned

• 🏡 Blog: Zillow Zestimates — Helpful Tool or Price Trap?
  
  
• 💬 Learn about assumable loans with rates as low as 2–4% — available at livportland.com

 Don’t let an algorithm price your biggest asset.
 👉 Visit livportland.com  to get a personalized home valuation from real experts—no guesswork, just insight.
And while you’re there, subscribe to Off the Record for more inside stories and market updates from Joe and Makayla. 

Thank you for listening to this episode. Stay up to date on the latest trends and insights by subscribing to our podcast and following us on social media.

For more information about buying or selling in the Portland Metro real estate market, please visit www.LivPortland.com or contact us directly.

We appreciate your feedback, so please leave a review and let us know what topics you would like to hear more about.

Transcript

00:00:08:18 - 00:00:24:19
Joe Reitzug
Welcome to Off the Record talking real estate with Joe and Makayla. If you're interested in the Portland, Oregon real estate market and want the unvarnished inside scoop, you've come to the right place. Thanks for giving us a listen.

00:00:24:21 - 00:00:29:08
Joe Reitzug
Okay. Welcome, everyone. Thanks for joining us. Hi, Makayla.

00:00:29:13 - 00:00:32:00
Makayla Mast
Hi, Joe. How are you?

00:00:32:02 - 00:00:33:00
Joe Reitzug
Stupendous.

00:00:33:02 - 00:00:38:01
Makayla Mast
Oh, stupendous. Yes. I think we should do a word of the day.

00:00:38:03 - 00:00:39:23
Joe Reitzug
That's my word of the day. Stupendous.

00:00:39:23 - 00:00:45:14
Makayla Mast
Stupendous. I like that. Okay. Yeah. It's been a while. I'm happy to be back in the studio.

00:00:45:18 - 00:00:53:11
Joe Reitzug
I know it has been a couple of weeks here. I know you had a wedding to attend. A fun location, which is awesome.

00:00:53:12 - 00:00:56:16
Makayla Mast
It was fun. Wedding blues now, but that's okay.

00:00:56:18 - 00:01:00:02
Joe Reitzug
Yeah, and I had family in town before that, so. Yeah, we're back at it.

00:01:00:02 - 00:01:02:00
Makayla Mast
People back at it.

00:01:02:02 - 00:01:12:03
Joe Reitzug
Back at the real estate grind, informing everyone about what's going on in the Portland metro area real estate world. And today we have a great topic.

00:01:12:04 - 00:01:16:20
Makayla Mast
Zillow. Zestimate. Are they a helpful tool or a price trap?

00:01:16:22 - 00:01:19:14
Joe Reitzug
I feel like this has been covered. But you.

00:01:19:14 - 00:01:19:23
Makayla Mast
Know.

00:01:20:00 - 00:01:35:02
Joe Reitzug
I still feel like there's a ton of people out there that are like, how good is this estimate? Is it good, is it bad? Is it this or that? So we decided we cover it. So we're going to dive deep today. We're going to go deep into the into these estimates because.

00:01:35:03 - 00:01:35:17
Makayla Mast
You.

00:01:35:18 - 00:01:54:07
Joe Reitzug
Know it's not that deep. But I think it's worth talking about the pros and cons and what exactly it is and all that sort of good stuff. But before we do that we have our off the record moment at the top.

00:01:54:09 - 00:02:13:00
Makayla Mast
My off the record moment is going to be a hot take this week, and it might not be that hot of the take, but just let me explain. You know, it'll make sense once I explain. Okay. But at first you're going to be like, really? It's so obvious. Pest control people are a rip off.

00:02:13:02 - 00:02:17:09
Joe Reitzug
Ooh, that is a hot take because I disagree.

00:02:17:11 - 00:02:18:13
Makayla Mast


00:02:18:15 - 00:02:20:14
Joe Reitzug
Give me why you think they are okay.

00:02:20:14 - 00:02:33:16
Makayla Mast
Because this is a new revelation that I'm having every single sale. Okay? Every single current sale we're working on needs a full on crawlspace remediation, which is horrible for.

00:02:33:16 - 00:02:34:02
Joe Reitzug
Pest.

00:02:34:06 - 00:02:57:06
Makayla Mast
For because of pests, because pests find their way into the crawl space. They super scratched up all the vapor barrier. They go to the bathroom everywhere. They rip down the insulation. These repairs cost like between 5 and 7 $8,000, and it's it's it's true. You're making a face. I'm dealing with two of them right now. A better over five grand.

00:02:57:08 - 00:03:05:15
Makayla Mast
And it's should be solvable, you know, should be preventable is what I should say. And oftentimes these people you're.

00:03:05:15 - 00:03:06:12
Joe Reitzug
Not using my pest.

00:03:06:12 - 00:03:17:21
Makayla Mast
Guy. I have had pest people out. And I think what they do is they set traps and then they don't actually seal the points of entry because they want to keep making money.

00:03:18:02 - 00:03:19:02
Joe Reitzug
Yeah, I hear you.

00:03:19:03 - 00:03:35:08
Makayla Mast
I hear you by coming back and getting all these critters. And when our pest guy comes over, he's like, yeah, they this is so obvious. There's a hole right here on the side of your house. Yeah. This event, if this would have been fixed, you could have saved yourself from a $5,000 repair.

00:03:35:13 - 00:03:36:02
Joe Reitzug
Yeah.

00:03:36:04 - 00:03:37:04
Makayla Mast
That is my holiday.

00:03:37:04 - 00:03:38:03
Joe Reitzug
Counterpoint.

00:03:38:03 - 00:03:39:10
Makayla Mast
Camp.

00:03:39:12 - 00:03:42:04
Joe Reitzug
Yeah, I don't know about 5000. Jeez, I.

00:03:42:06 - 00:03:42:15
Makayla Mast
I'll show.

00:03:42:15 - 00:04:16:17
Joe Reitzug
You. Jeez. Okay. Yeah. I agree with you, though. It seems like every single one purchase that we're doing right now, there is a call for the, you know, a professional pest person to come in and remedy the issues that are going on there. Pretty much every single home is going to have some sort of pest activity, whether it's mice, rats, skunks, our homes are inside our homes, but varmints want to make them their homes as well.

00:04:16:19 - 00:04:19:23
Makayla Mast
Hey Mother Teresa, I know, I know.

00:04:20:00 - 00:04:40:05
Joe Reitzug
But my counter point is that if I'm living in a home, like at at our place, and this is my personal story about this, real quickly we had our dogs would go to the front of the home and be snipped. We had we have an office in the front of our home on the main floor, and they were sniffing in a corner and just agitated about it.

00:04:40:05 - 00:05:02:22
Joe Reitzug
They're like, you know? And so I get down there, crawl around, I'm like, there is nothing here. We had our pest guy out and there was a nest of rats underneath our house. Yeah, yeah. And so he got it all taken care of and then sealed up the points of entry, and he comes back every six months now.

00:05:03:00 - 00:05:19:23
Joe Reitzug
But the peace of mind, knowing that my house is also not a rat house and keeping the pest and all that sort of stuff out is worth some money to me. Is it five grand? Maybe? Those are gross. It is really gross.

00:05:19:23 - 00:05:34:02
Makayla Mast
But no, I agree that it's worth having somebody take a look at that. I'm saying that your door to door people, your salesmen, like the big two companies that people hire and get stuck in contracts under aren't doing a good job.

00:05:34:06 - 00:05:40:16
Joe Reitzug
No, my pest guy that we use personally at my house is awesome.

00:05:40:16 - 00:05:41:01
Makayla Mast
Good.

00:05:41:06 - 00:05:46:06
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. And he's fantastic. I've never seen $1,000 bill from him.

00:05:46:08 - 00:05:51:01
Makayla Mast
No, I'm saying the costs are immediate. Dare I say. Okay. But I'm glad.

00:05:51:02 - 00:06:05:14
Joe Reitzug
I pretty much had to have our crawlspace remediated and everything's sealed up and all that sort of good stuff, and he comes back out because guess what? Those critters are aggressive. And he wants to make sure that, you know, all that stuff is still secure and all that. And he sprays.

00:06:05:16 - 00:06:13:13
Makayla Mast
I'm dealing with, not raccoons. What's the other one? It's like a large, larger animal.

00:06:13:15 - 00:06:15:13
Joe Reitzug
Polar bear.

00:06:15:15 - 00:06:19:05
Makayla Mast
Who's. Yeah, dealing with polar bears.

00:06:19:06 - 00:06:22:05
Joe Reitzug
I've got this polar bear infestation.

00:06:22:06 - 00:06:37:17
Makayla Mast
And our guy said, this is the, like the rat the size of the rats. I think it's ours. It's, like astonishing. And all he does is trap and kill pests. And he said, there's some of the biggest rats. He's ever seen.

00:06:37:17 - 00:07:00:13
Joe Reitzug
That's not good. Hey, I also everyone loves chickens. You know, everyone wants to have chickens for the eggs and all that sort of stuff. Being the old farm boy that I am. Guess what? Chickens, rats, they go hand in hand. If you have chickens on your property, you are going to have rats. So be prepared to keep those puppies out of your crawlspace.

00:07:00:14 - 00:07:05:15
Makayla Mast
What? Yes, stri. They like their poop.

00:07:05:17 - 00:07:16:06
Joe Reitzug
Well, all the feed, all the everything that goes with it. And, yeah, they just they go hand in hand. It's, you know, if you have chicken, I love chickens. Dang.

00:07:16:08 - 00:07:18:06
Makayla Mast
I got lost my chicken project.

00:07:18:07 - 00:07:19:09
Joe Reitzug
Are you going to get chickens?

00:07:19:09 - 00:07:22:03
Makayla Mast
No, I my husband will never ever.

00:07:22:05 - 00:07:24:02
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. Good. Yeah.

00:07:24:04 - 00:07:27:16
Makayla Mast
Okay. Anyways, now that we've taken ten weeks of your time.

00:07:27:16 - 00:07:29:09
Joe Reitzug
Podcast, I get.

00:07:29:11 - 00:07:30:00
Makayla Mast
That.

00:07:30:05 - 00:07:41:09
Joe Reitzug
People are clamoring to download this one. Holy smokes, that went viral. These two knuckleheads talking about past exhausting.

00:07:41:11 - 00:07:43:05
Makayla Mast
What is your off the record?

00:07:43:07 - 00:07:52:12
Joe Reitzug
My bug right now? Yeah, that's an easy one. Okay. I don't like the shut down fair. Can I be honest with you, Mac?

00:07:52:14 - 00:07:53:03
Makayla Mast
Yes.

00:07:53:08 - 00:08:17:18
Joe Reitzug
Can we just be done with this? Can we get the government back up and running? And it's not just housing. Housing is affected, obviously, and all that, but everything else. The people you know, and just everything. I just get it resolved, people, can we just get this stuff fixed and this is going to be outdated soon because they'll get it put together and get things going.

00:08:17:18 - 00:08:19:14
Joe Reitzug
But this is lasting entirely too long.

00:08:19:15 - 00:08:20:06
Makayla Mast
Yeah.

00:08:20:08 - 00:08:32:14
Joe Reitzug
And you know, personally from a housing point of view, guess what? No one's going to buy a home when they don't feel comfortable and confident about what's going on in the economy.

00:08:32:16 - 00:08:33:00
Makayla Mast
Yeah.

00:08:33:04 - 00:08:45:10
Joe Reitzug
And right now that's the case. So we're selling a couple people. But everyone who is thinking about it is like.

00:08:45:12 - 00:08:46:22
Makayla Mast
I'll hold off till the spring.

00:08:46:22 - 00:08:51:04
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. Let's let's take a beat on that for a minute. So anyways, I think.

00:08:51:10 - 00:08:56:21
Makayla Mast
We need some good vibes. America needs some good vibes. We do some good times. The government running.

00:08:57:01 - 00:09:03:04
Joe Reitzug
Right. Well, one good thing coming up is, we got Halloween. That's always a pick me up.

00:09:03:06 - 00:09:06:08
Makayla Mast
What, are you going to dress up us tomorrow, Joe?

00:09:06:10 - 00:09:10:00
Joe Reitzug
I'm going. Jim Halpern, the three hole punch.

00:09:10:01 - 00:09:11:05
Makayla Mast
What?

00:09:11:07 - 00:09:12:10
Joe Reitzug
Didn't you watch The Office?

00:09:12:15 - 00:09:14:04
Makayla Mast
Yes, I love it.

00:09:14:06 - 00:09:20:04
Joe Reitzug
Three big circles on one side of a shirt. Yeah, it's a three hole punch.

00:09:20:06 - 00:09:24:21
Makayla Mast
I am, like, shocked right now that you would even dress up. I was totally.

00:09:24:21 - 00:09:25:15
Joe Reitzug
I'm not dress.

00:09:25:16 - 00:09:26:04
Makayla Mast
Okay.

00:09:26:04 - 00:09:28:18
Joe Reitzug
You're kidding. But if I did.

00:09:28:20 - 00:09:29:17
Makayla Mast
That was quick.

00:09:29:21 - 00:09:49:08
Joe Reitzug
Yeah yeah. And we're going candy again this year we were out doing shenanigans and whatnot. The last couple of years and had the house dark. But we're going candy this year, okay? I'm doing a chili. Oh my. Homemade chili. Yes. And finger sandwiches for anyone that stops by that.

00:09:49:08 - 00:09:50:00
Makayla Mast
Tune.

00:09:50:01 - 00:09:52:04
Joe Reitzug
Looks hungry. We're going to feed the masses.

00:09:52:06 - 00:09:53:13
Makayla Mast
That is so nice.

00:09:53:13 - 00:09:54:18
Joe Reitzug
And not just with candy.

00:09:54:19 - 00:09:56:22
Makayla Mast
I love the Halloween spirit.

00:09:57:00 - 00:09:59:17
Joe Reitzug
Yeah, yeah. What are you dressing is.

00:09:59:18 - 00:10:02:18
Makayla Mast
Oh, nothing. Come on, Makayla, can't.

00:10:03:00 - 00:10:03:18
Joe Reitzug
You.

00:10:03:21 - 00:10:08:17
Makayla Mast
It's better to be nothing. Don't tell me to catch her now. No, I'm not too mature at all.

00:10:08:17 - 00:10:16:01
Joe Reitzug
I'm lazy. Wonderful house. Two wonderful dogs. No time to dress up. Let's not go that direction.

00:10:16:04 - 00:10:18:15
Makayla Mast
We're hosting a party. I'm just.

00:10:18:16 - 00:10:19:00
Joe Reitzug
Halloween.

00:10:19:00 - 00:10:19:07
Makayla Mast
Party.

00:10:19:07 - 00:10:20:13
Joe Reitzug
Yeah, and you're not dressing up?

00:10:20:13 - 00:10:27:11
Makayla Mast
Yeah, I'm just lazy going to parties. It's going to be, I don't know, probably one with a lot of alcohol. Fine. Again.

00:10:27:13 - 00:10:28:21
Joe Reitzug
Standard. There you go.

00:10:29:03 - 00:10:31:05
Makayla Mast
And chilling because I'm still not out. Yeah.

00:10:31:06 - 00:10:36:00
Joe Reitzug
Go boozy. I'll send you my my chili recipe.


00:10:36:19 - 00:10:43:13
Joe Reitzug
Phenomenal. It is two thumbs up from, young James Reitzug. So which is tough to get.

00:10:43:15 - 00:10:45:06
Makayla Mast
That security.

00:10:45:07 - 00:11:02:16
Joe Reitzug
Seal of approval. Yeah. We had a whole bucket of chili when, my wife and I were out of town for almost a week. We made them chili. And, it was for him and his brothers. And Jimmy ate the whole bucket of chili by himself.

00:11:02:16 - 00:11:06:02
Makayla Mast
And two days is insane, I love that.

00:11:06:04 - 00:11:07:06
Joe Reitzug
Well.

00:11:07:08 - 00:11:08:17
Makayla Mast
It's not the worst thing you could be eating.

00:11:08:22 - 00:11:12:20
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. I texted him where the Tums is at. So should be good.

00:11:13:00 - 00:11:14:18
Makayla Mast
That's on him bro. Yeah.

00:11:14:20 - 00:11:19:16
Joe Reitzug
We won't go there. So let's dive into our topic today. So is estimates.

00:11:19:18 - 00:11:20:12
Makayla Mast
Is that a helpful.

00:11:20:12 - 00:11:25:20
Joe Reitzug
Tool or price trap. And I'm going to say right off the top it's a little bit of both.

00:11:25:22 - 00:11:31:10
Makayla Mast
That's what I was going to say. I'm I'm very medium medium in the middle. I don't.

00:11:31:12 - 00:11:39:07
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. So you know, a Zestimate for those of you out there that just got out of, like a 20 year hibernation, like just.

00:11:39:07 - 00:11:40:00
Makayla Mast
Falling out of a.

00:11:40:00 - 00:11:56:16
Joe Reitzug
Roof. Yes. This estimate is Zillow. So Zillow is the big aggregator. We call them aggregators. Those companies that take all the MLS information and everything and put it all together and have their little website for people to go see, see homes.

00:11:56:18 - 00:11:58:07
Makayla Mast
A little website and their little.

00:11:58:07 - 00:12:05:15
Joe Reitzug
Website and they have come up with this algorithm that uses.

00:12:05:17 - 00:12:09:21
Makayla Mast
Like. One of our.

00:12:09:21 - 00:12:11:06
Joe Reitzug
One of our studio guests.

00:12:11:06 - 00:12:12:09
Makayla Mast
Sorry, buddy.

00:12:12:10 - 00:12:16:18
Joe Reitzug
Knocked over our lighting and,

00:12:16:20 - 00:12:18:12
Makayla Mast
Yeah, sorry, that was obnoxious.

00:12:18:12 - 00:12:20:19
Joe Reitzug
And go on a blooper reel right there.

00:12:20:21 - 00:12:22:19
Makayla Mast
Sorry. Puns. Sure.

00:12:22:19 - 00:12:36:20
Joe Reitzug
Okay, okay. We're back. After just a little bit of a technical difficulty, one of our where studio audience, knocked over some some lighting and, Yeah, but we're all good now. No one was.

00:12:36:20 - 00:12:38:13
Makayla Mast
Hurt. No one was hurt.

00:12:38:15 - 00:12:42:22
Joe Reitzug
One four legged animal is very embarrassed right now. But besides that, we're all good.

00:12:42:23 - 00:12:44:05
Makayla Mast
He's cowering in the other room.

00:12:44:08 - 00:13:13:17
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. So, okay, back to the topic. What exactly is as estimate. So on their website it says automated home value estimate calculated using public records, MLS data, tax assessments and machine learning algorithms. Okay, so it's not an appraisal. It's not an official anything. It's just they did their valuation soup and came up with this is what we think the value of your home is.

00:13:13:19 - 00:13:28:14
Joe Reitzug
And you know, it's it's the idea is to give homebuyers, homeowners, and home sellers a quick snapshot of what they think the value of the home is based upon those criteria.

00:13:28:15 - 00:13:29:04
Makayla Mast


00:13:29:06 - 00:13:49:05
Joe Reitzug
And that's it. So yeah. So you know I, I feel like when assessments first came out I was like oh this is cool. Right on I love it. A lot of realtors and a lot of people in the real estate industry were like, we should be the only indicator of value because we label this, that the other well guess what?

00:13:49:06 - 00:13:52:00
Joe Reitzug
Technology is something that yeah, really cool, really.

00:13:52:00 - 00:13:52:19
Makayla Mast
Great tool.

00:13:52:21 - 00:14:13:20
Joe Reitzug
Used in great ways. And this is a really cool technological tool to see just a little indicator of where the value is. And that's, you know, that's awesome. And some of the pros of assessments are it's quick, it's simple. It's convenient. You're going to say welcome. Punch in your address and bang. It'll tell you right there what it thinks.

00:14:13:20 - 00:14:15:17
Joe Reitzug
You're what your value.

00:14:15:19 - 00:14:28:02
Makayla Mast
Yeah it's a good starting point I think. Yeah. Gives people a general idea, especially if they've been out of the market or haven't sold their home or thought about it in a while. It's a good way to see what's happening.

00:14:28:04 - 00:14:50:04
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. And it's also, you know, it's a bit of transparency back in the day, back when Grandpa Joe here was, in starting in real estate or actually at first 5 or 6 years, the only way you could find out what your home was worth was by calling a professional. And a lot of times, you know, you just had to take their word for it.

00:14:50:04 - 00:14:53:09
Joe Reitzug
And I don't know about you, but that makes me a little bit nervous.

00:14:53:09 - 00:14:54:05
Makayla Mast
Definitely.

00:14:54:06 - 00:15:10:15
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So there's some transparency there. Now people get to see what homes in the neighborhood have sold for very easily. You know there's estimates there. They can kind of go, oh okay. Well it looks like this. The other great point is it really keeps people engaged.

00:15:10:17 - 00:15:11:08
Makayla Mast
It does.

00:15:11:09 - 00:15:13:02
Joe Reitzug
You notice how many people.

00:15:13:04 - 00:15:14:22
Makayla Mast
I mean, where if there's a stop.

00:15:14:23 - 00:15:22:10
Joe Reitzug
I think of every ten appointments that we go on with sellers, I think nine out of ten know their number to the decimal point.

00:15:22:12 - 00:15:47:19
Makayla Mast
Oh, I'm sure of it. Yeah. Even like if they know they're going to sell an eight months, they're checking it constantly to make sure it hasn't changed. They panic if it goes down a little bit. Right. That's where you know getting into whereas estimates can go wrong. That's what can be tricky point for me. I think people obsess over it and it's not worth obsessing over because it's not a genuine data point.

00:15:47:20 - 00:15:48:08
Makayla Mast
Totally.

00:15:48:08 - 00:15:52:15
Joe Reitzug
But it is ubiquitous where the day machines.

00:15:52:15 - 00:15:53:22
Makayla Mast
I know don't reading.

00:15:54:00 - 00:15:57:16
Joe Reitzug
I've been doing a lot of reading. Yeah.

00:15:57:18 - 00:16:23:03
Joe Reitzug
I'm all ashamed. Yes, I'm reading. Yeah. I actually have been doing a lot of reading. It's a good thing it's I like throwing up big words once in a while. But the Zestimate is ubiquitous. It is everywhere and it's almost kind of a. Well I'm sure it's in the dictionary now obviously. And it's a term I use it sometimes for things other than real estate.

00:16:23:05 - 00:16:28:19
Joe Reitzug
You know, when my kids come to me with a fact that I know is not factual, I'm like, what do you do? Zestimate?

00:16:28:19 - 00:16:30:07
Makayla Mast
That or oh, that's funny.

00:16:30:11 - 00:16:32:11
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. Come on. The on the carpet there.

00:16:32:11 - 00:16:33:08
Makayla Mast
I like that.

00:16:33:10 - 00:16:39:15
Joe Reitzug
So let's talk about the things where maybe the assessment does not really get it right or helpful.

00:16:39:17 - 00:17:00:09
Makayla Mast
And this is a we talk about this a lot with her in our initial conversations with sellers is that it doesn't show us the inside of your home. Usually. It might have pictures from the old listing if the home has ever been sold, but it doesn't tell us about updates that you've made to the home. Maybe you've painted, or maybe you've done as much as remodeling your entire kitchen or bathroom.

00:17:00:09 - 00:17:07:18
Makayla Mast
You know, those are huge projects which significantly impact the value of your home. So it's not it obviously can't see those things.

00:17:07:19 - 00:17:24:20
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. Curb appeal, for example, is huge with people when someone drives up to your home, what's the first thing they feel and see? And assessment just doesn't take that into account. Right. There's also the local nuance. Like there's certain neighborhoods.

00:17:24:23 - 00:17:29:21
Makayla Mast
Like one street over is a very different neighborhood than the neighborhood you might be considering.

00:17:29:22 - 00:17:40:03
Joe Reitzug
Right? But when you're looking at bedrooms and bathrooms and square footage and everything looks the same, Zillow is going to tell you that those two properties are the same value.

00:17:40:04 - 00:17:40:13
Makayla Mast


00:17:40:18 - 00:17:43:15
Joe Reitzug
And that's not really the case obviously.

00:17:43:18 - 00:17:48:23
Makayla Mast
That's when it's a bummer when it gets into Mr. and Mrs. Seller's heads because that's a hard one to explain.

00:17:49:04 - 00:18:13:17
Joe Reitzug
It is a hard one to explain. There's also outdated or incomplete data. You know not all sales make it into our MLS. Not all sales, you know, tell the whole story from the numbers that you see in the tax, assessments and everything. So, you know, you got to take some of that into effect. And as our market gets a little bit squirrely, that becomes even more pronounced.

00:18:13:19 - 00:18:42:12
Joe Reitzug
Right? Usually it's on the downside. But there's also situations where you look at a home and go, oh that's sold for 750. Are you kidding me? Everything else around there was, you know, 700. Well, you know, maybe there was all sorts of stuff that goes into that sale that was included or whatever. You just never know, right? And a lot of times for us, we're able to call that listing broker or the selling broker and find out what the situation was and, and see that the situation was different.

00:18:42:12 - 00:18:46:14
Joe Reitzug
And those are things that you're going to typically find in the Zestimate.

00:18:46:16 - 00:18:58:18
Makayla Mast
Yeah, absolutely. All that kind of leads into the point. So the biggest con is that unfortunately give sellers can give sellers unrealistic expectations on what they can sell their home for.

00:18:58:19 - 00:19:19:14
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. And one of the things that we do in our evaluations, so whenever we meet with a seller who's looking to get their property on the market and get it sold, they want to find out what it's worth in the current market. Right. So one of the things we do we'll do is we'll go out, look at the similar properties, see what they've sold for hopefully within the last 90 days, sometimes within the last hundred and 80 days.

00:19:19:19 - 00:19:40:07
Joe Reitzug
And we put those into our system that we have, we have some software that makes it all pretty and, and all that. But we, you know, go to each home and compare and do the whole thing first, load it into our software. One of the great sheets that I love, and I know you use this too, is what does social media say about those comparable homes.

00:19:40:07 - 00:19:58:18
Joe Reitzug
And you can see what they were listed at, what they were sold at, and then what the Zestimate was. And it's always interesting to see how close they sold to what they were actually does estimate said so. And 99% of the time it's not that number. Right.

00:19:58:19 - 00:20:10:14
Makayla Mast
Oh yeah. No it's not, in fact, I love playing that game. I saved the Zestimate for last because I like to make my own, range at least. So I like to come up with that and then check them, see what they have to say.

00:20:10:19 - 00:20:15:12
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. For sure. For sure. So how accurate are estimates, really, Mac?

00:20:15:12 - 00:20:26:10
Makayla Mast
Well, okay. So according to Zillow, estimates are typically within 2 to 5% of a home's final sale price for homes that are currently on the market.

00:20:26:12 - 00:20:26:22
Joe Reitzug
Okay.

00:20:26:22 - 00:20:28:03
Makayla Mast
Interesting.

00:20:28:05 - 00:20:28:18
Joe Reitzug
Yeah.

00:20:28:20 - 00:20:35:08
Makayla Mast
Okay. So but it says but for homes that aren't listed where Zillow has less data accuracy can vary dramatically.

00:20:35:09 - 00:20:55:20
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. So in a nutshell when there are a lot of similar comps to be had, it's pretty easy to get to a number. Right. And the estimates are great for that. So if you live in a neighborhood where they were all built around the same time, like my neighborhood, everything was built within a two year period, all within a pretty close square footage.

00:20:55:20 - 00:21:21:06
Joe Reitzug
All have the same lot, same builders, same everything. That's going to be pretty easy to, to value. Right now, what happens when you go out and you know the neighborhood has 20 different styles of homes with all sorts of different this, that and the other. And you've got big ranges of people that have remodeled, people that haven't touched their homes.

00:21:21:10 - 00:21:39:16
Joe Reitzug
You're going to get a lot bigger range on those estimates. Same thing with rural. Yeah. I don't even think it's estimates for rural. No, I do for for suburban neighborhoods, I think it's you know, I don't look at it first, but I look to see what after we get our numbers put together, I look to see what did Zillow say.

00:21:39:18 - 00:21:51:03
Joe Reitzug
And a lot of times it's pretty close. I mean, it's not a big mystery, but on like rural property, big farms, acreage, all that. Nope. I'm not even waste my time with it because they don't. They just don't know.

00:21:51:04 - 00:21:57:11
Makayla Mast
They can be so far off. Yeah. And we don't even know until we go see the property with our own eyes obviously.

00:21:57:12 - 00:21:59:06
Joe Reitzug
Same thing with luxury properties.

00:21:59:11 - 00:22:00:03
Makayla Mast


00:22:00:05 - 00:22:25:03
Joe Reitzug
Do you remember that tour that we did and Dunn Thorpe. And there were a couple of homes. They were all pretty much you know big lot, 4000 plus square feet all in the 2 to $3 million price range. But they were all so much incredibly different. Yeah. And so I thought to me at some point it becomes a personal style.

00:22:25:04 - 00:22:48:06
Joe Reitzug
Definitely a personal opinion on value. Yeah. And you're trying to price a luxury property. Don't even worry about going to the Zestimate because they just don't know. They don't know that market because it's it's such an intangible of what are people looking for right now. Right. And so it's really super hard to get an accurate one for, for luxury property.

00:22:48:06 - 00:22:48:13
Joe Reitzug
So.

00:22:48:15 - 00:23:00:11
Makayla Mast
Right, even things like that, a lot of people wouldn't think about like it's the private does it back to a busy street. I don't there's all those you know the quality of the appliances.

00:23:00:17 - 00:23:01:01
Joe Reitzug
Yeah.

00:23:01:04 - 00:23:03:23
Makayla Mast
Finishes it just you just don't know until you go see it.

00:23:04:01 - 00:23:22:05
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. Right. Is there a pool. Is there a separate dwelling. Is there a large, you know flat ground there for entertaining and all that sort of stuff. So the smart way to use this estimate. So if we were going to recommend to a buyer the smart way to use is estimate. What would that be Mac.

00:23:22:06 - 00:23:44:16
Makayla Mast
I think by using it as like a starting point. They shouldn't base their offer for that Zestimate. I think they, you know, use us as that tool to help them do some more research. But it can also help them, look at just what's happening in the neighborhood as well. You know, they don't just have to look at the property that they're interested in.

00:23:44:16 - 00:23:49:01
Makayla Mast
But what's been happening in the area? Yeah, I think that's.

00:23:49:03 - 00:24:09:11
Joe Reitzug
I think that's pretty much the same thing for a seller as well. Yeah. I mean, it's it's a good conversation starter, but in the end, you know, whoever your real estate professional is, make sure you're getting that valuation that has similar comps. Right. And be able to sit down and look at those. And hopefully they're within the last 90 days.

00:24:09:12 - 00:24:33:21
Joe Reitzug
And hopefully they're they're properties that are similar to yours so that you can look at it and say, oh, okay, this is what buyers are paying for right now. And this one has not as nice of amenities as mine, or maybe has nicer and you just it because of that. But that's, that's part of the valuation process. And that's why it's important to have a live human being involved in the process.

00:24:33:21 - 00:24:36:13
Makayla Mast
Because this is our pitch to not let us get taken over here.

00:24:36:14 - 00:24:37:14
Joe Reitzug
Well.

00:24:37:16 - 00:24:38:14
Makayla Mast
It's just I.

00:24:38:14 - 00:24:58:21
Joe Reitzug
Mean, I think most people will see the value in this and understand that it's a great starting point. It's a great conversation starter. But in the end, a buyer's not going to go to Zillow and go, you know, it's listed for 750. The Zestimate says it's 775. I mean, maybe we should offer 775. That's not going to.

00:24:58:21 - 00:24:59:03
Makayla Mast
Be, you.

00:24:59:06 - 00:25:20:06
Joe Reitzug
Know, and if it's 700, they're going to be looking at it going, okay, Mr. or Mrs. Realtor who's representing me, can you give me the comps on what this home should be valued at? That's just how the the marketplace work works. Zillow's estimates have very little sway with buyers. They could care less because no sweet.

00:25:20:06 - 00:25:23:00
Makayla Mast
Someone thinks this is worth more than living, right?

00:25:23:00 - 00:25:26:12
Joe Reitzug
And banks don't lend off Zestimate, so it's not, you know.

00:25:26:12 - 00:25:27:08
Makayla Mast
And there you have.

00:25:27:09 - 00:25:28:05
Joe Reitzug
It kind of is what it.

00:25:28:05 - 00:25:29:19
Makayla Mast
Is.

00:25:29:21 - 00:25:47:14
Joe Reitzug
So that was our our take on Zillow's estimates. Love them or hate them I think there's a place for them. But at the same time make your decisions on, on a host of other things and not just some algorithm that doesn't really take into account any, you know, any of the other factors that might be super important for your property.

00:25:47:16 - 00:25:49:21
Makayla Mast
And please don't obsess over it.

00:25:49:23 - 00:26:01:02
Joe Reitzug
Yeah, it's not worth it. It's not worth it. So okay. With that, we have our final segment, which is what we're loving. What are you loving right now Mac?

00:26:01:04 - 00:26:01:20
Makayla Mast
Red wine.

00:26:02:01 - 00:26:07:23
Joe Reitzug
Oh my gosh I'm sorry. She went there. She went there. I didn't know what she was going to say. Folks, I.

00:26:07:23 - 00:26:24:15
Makayla Mast
Have really good red wine right now in my house. And I've been teaching in the afternoon, like late. And I come home and I have 3 or 4 hours worth of adrenaline in me, and I just need a little wine down. And that is so much wine down.

00:26:24:17 - 00:26:36:06
Joe Reitzug
Yeah, I noticed that, you guys had all that great red wine from that place that you subscribed to out, in your dining room, and I don't see any of it. Where did it all go, Makayla?

00:26:36:07 - 00:26:37:13
Makayla Mast
I tucked it away. Yeah.

00:26:37:13 - 00:26:39:04
Joe Reitzug
You did? Yeah.

00:26:39:06 - 00:26:41:23
Makayla Mast
I wanted to decorate.

00:26:42:01 - 00:26:45:09
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. Is Mr. Mast a wine drinker as well?

00:26:45:11 - 00:26:49:08
Makayla Mast
Yes, yes. Not as much as I am. I'm definitely the bad influence.

00:26:49:09 - 00:26:55:01
Joe Reitzug
That's what I was pointing to. Yes, indeed. Yeah. Red wine.

00:26:55:03 - 00:26:57:12
Makayla Mast
I just love it. I love her.

00:26:57:14 - 00:27:08:06
Joe Reitzug
You know how it goes over in my house, I do, Mrs. Reitzug is a connoisseur of the 10 to $20 bottle of red wine.

00:27:08:08 - 00:27:11:12
Makayla Mast
There's nothing wrong with, no.

00:27:11:13 - 00:27:16:02
Joe Reitzug
If I try to sneak in that 8.99 bottle. Boy, she's not having it. 

00:27:16:04 - 00:27:17:15
Makayla Mast
We are too good for that.

00:27:17:17 - 00:27:21:07
Joe Reitzug
No, we're not too good for that. It's just not good enough for her palate, apparently.

00:27:21:09 - 00:27:22:22
Makayla Mast
Okay, I get it. Okay.

00:27:22:22 - 00:27:26:16
Joe Reitzug
I'm glad she doesn't listen to this.

00:27:26:18 - 00:27:31:12
Makayla Mast
She's like, I hear these two talk. Enough. I don't need more of that.

00:27:31:13 - 00:27:35:16
Joe Reitzug
She has friends that do. Listen, know that I'm sure cracking up right now. So.

00:27:35:18 - 00:27:36:16
Makayla Mast
What do you love?

00:27:36:16 - 00:27:40:17
Joe Reitzug
I am loving swimming. How about that.

00:27:40:19 - 00:27:41:04
Makayla Mast
Swim?

00:27:41:10 - 00:27:45:21
Joe Reitzug
And not as a child swimming, but as a workout.

00:27:45:23 - 00:27:46:14
Makayla Mast
That is it.

00:27:46:15 - 00:27:50:21
Joe Reitzug
Makayla. Yeah. I'm not. I don't have the floaties on. And there.

00:27:51:01 - 00:27:51:11
Makayla Mast
Sure.

00:27:51:11 - 00:28:17:17
Joe Reitzug
Slapping away from the nerf. Yeah. As you get older, Makayla, it is harder to find things that aren't going to have an ill effect later on, right? Like running. Can't do it. Yeah, the knees are shot. Can't do it. And I wish I could, but swimming I love, love, love so much just because it's low impact. It expands your lungs in a great way.

00:28:17:17 - 00:28:29:00
Joe Reitzug
I feel great after I do it, and it's almost like a meditation when you're in the water, you really don't worry about a whole lot except for keeping count of your laps that you're swimming.

00:28:29:00 - 00:28:29:14
Makayla Mast
Yeah.

00:28:29:16 - 00:28:34:04
Joe Reitzug
Which can be tough, but that's what I'm loving is, getting in the pool. Especially this time of year.

00:28:34:04 - 00:28:34:22
Makayla Mast
Yeah.

00:28:35:00 - 00:28:48:18
Joe Reitzug
Where it's cold out. And I love walking at our club. You walk it. We have a really nice 50 meter pool, and you walk into the, the big pool area, and it's hot.

00:28:48:18 - 00:28:49:19
Makayla Mast
Yeah, that's the thing.

00:28:50:00 - 00:28:59:17
Joe Reitzug
It's not the pools. Not hot. Hot. It's perfect for having a workout. So you're not, you know, hating that. But it's just wonderful this time of year.

00:28:59:18 - 00:29:03:21
Makayla Mast
Oh, that's cool. Yeah. So important to find things like that I like that. Yeah.

00:29:03:23 - 00:29:06:05
Joe Reitzug
So if you're interested in more information about.

00:29:06:06 - 00:29:08:12
Makayla Mast
You're interested in swimming or red wine.

00:29:08:13 - 00:29:27:15
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. Give us a call because we can help you out. No. At Zestimate, Zillow, everything else. We're going to find a little bit more information on that and post us post that in the show notes. So if you want to go to LivPortland.com LivPortland.com, you can check that out. We've also got a great blog there.

00:29:27:15 - 00:29:42:08
Joe Reitzug
You can find all sorts of great information about different neighborhoods, communities and also set up a search for, you know, if you're keeping an eye on a certain neighborhood or whatever, you can do that there. But just a great place for all your real estate information needs.

00:29:42:12 - 00:30:06:22
Makayla Mast
Yes. We also have a really cool program that we're doing right now about loan assumptions. So properties that are currently listed for sale, where you can assume their loan and their lower interest rate. So people have been inquiring on our website and letting us know where they're interested in living. And then we reply back with a list of homes that are available and could, get them into a home with a lower interest rate.

00:30:07:01 - 00:30:38:15
Joe Reitzug
But if you're interested in that, we did a whole podcast on it previously that you can dive into. But just so you know, any home that bought, or any current owner who purchased using an FHA or VA loan, you can assume that from them. And, we can do a whole filter so that you can get homes that were bought in between like 2020 and 2022 or 23, and you can get rates between 2 and 4% on a lot of these.

00:30:38:15 - 00:30:59:12
Joe Reitzug
And most of these owners don't even know that they could be offering in a similar bill right now. So it's not like anything you're going to see on Zillow or out there. And a lot of agents don't realize that either, but it's a great way to buy a property, and you can save six, seven, $800 a month on your payment with the lower rate.

00:30:59:12 - 00:31:07:14
Joe Reitzug
So great way to dive in if you're interested in that, reach out to us. We're more than happy to help. Been helping a lot of people lately with that. And, it's a great way to go.

00:31:07:19 - 00:31:10:05
Makayla Mast
Yes, I agree, okay, thanks for listening.

00:31:10:06 - 00:31:11:17
Joe Reitzug
Thanks, guys.

00:31:11:19 - 00:38:16:07
Makayla Mast
Thanks for joining us today. If you're interested in finding out more about Joe, myself or the LivPortland team, you can go to LivPortland.com. Thanks for giving us a listen and see you next time on the Off the Record podcast.