LOANNE C.

I wrote a letter to Zillow "consumer advocate" to ask why our house went down $ 61,000 in one day after I reported a home improvement we made. Their response was the standard "algorithm" excuse without explanation why our house went down instead of up. I am publishing my letter here to show how unreliable their Zestimates are as well as their forecasts and to show that they do not even know the difference between addition and subtraction.

Dear Leslie B.,

7/22/17

We request an explanation how our Zestimate decreased almost $ 61,000.00 in just one month after we made home improvements! Almost every time I claim the house and update the info, showing improvements we have made, the Zestimate went down instead of up. I believe that if I had not reported our home improvements, our Zestimate would have gone up like our neighbors.

Another faulty thing about your website is that your Zestimates claims "Your Zestimate has increased!" but then knocks it down to a lower number. This happened on 11/3/16,3/17/17 and 6/20/17. Does your algorithm even know the simple difference between substractions vs additions?!

Yet another faulty thing is your forecast. On 9/20/16 your forecast for our Zestimate in one year was $ 653,440. Now, nine months later, you knocked down the price in one month by almost $ 61,000 so that the present Zestimate is $ 553,534. In other words, your projected forecast is off by almost $ 100,000.00! We have lost all faith and respect in your website.

I have been following our Zestimates for almost one year now because we originally intended to sell through your website. These are the Zestimates you gave:

9/20/16 $ 632,015 PROJECTED FORECAST IN ONE YEAR $ 653,440
10/12/16 $ 629,880
11/3/16 $ 614.435 CLAIMS IT WENT UP $ 14,673 IN LAST 30 DAYS
11/25/15 $ 620,782
1/18/17 $ 618,478
2/21/ 17 $ 620,308
3/17/17 $ 619,849 CLAIMS IT WENT UP $ 714 IN LAST 30 DAYS
4/24/17 $ 618,376
6/20/17 $ 614.323 CLAIMS IT WENT UP $ 8936 IN LAST 30 DAYS
7/19/17 $ 553,534

I request that you restore the Zestimate of our house to last months of $ 614,323. Besides the two lawsuits that are currently pending against Zillow, various internet websites where angry customers report their negative experiences can be very damaging.

LC