A friend of mind came into the office complaining about the money he wasted paying for an appraisal while trying to do a cash out refi. Remember how easy those were during the run up years of real estate? Anyways he say I cannot believe how low the appraisal was for his home. I asked how much he thought his home was worth and why. His answer..."Because Zillow said its worth 300k on the internet" Real Life answer from MLS sold comps showed approx 240k value.
Expensive lession for him. Local Real Estate information is always best from local agents. Everyone has at least one Realtor friend. Most people can swing a cat and hit 10 agents.
Call your friendly agent before spending $350 to $450 to an appraisal who knows it won't appraise but still has to feed his kids.

Yep "ignorance is bliss". Cash out refi's are dead except for people who have a ton of equity. Lenders have told appraisers to be very conservative when doing valuations on these types of loans.

Sometimes people get burned a few times before they start coming to the experts that can save them a lot of time and money.

I signed up to get questions from zillow in my area emailed to me so I can participate in the conversation. Problem is 80% of those questions are from some poor schmuck thinking zillow is a real appraisal and complaining how it's "inaccurate because of XXXX".
Zillow is such an inadequate tool but problem is the average consumer really considers it an alternative to a CMA or appraisal. It's ridiculous.
I wish they would just stop really.

In my experience though, the friend will ignore my advice because he/she found a better end result. It has to be true because its on the internet and benifits their need.

I'm watching my brother do the same thing trying to sell his house. He's been fired now by 2 Realtors in his area. The guy knows it all and can figure it out, why pay a Realtor. Its painful to watch him, but his choice.

If I had a nickel for everytime I said that to a homeowner..

The problem with appraisals that are not for loans is the appraiser will always "try to hit the number" the seller wants. The reason is many sellers will get mad and not pay for the appraisal once they see the value it came in at.

For loan appraisers are held to be accountable so the value is much more realistic and conservative.

An appraisal to get a value to sell is overkill and not needed.

All the appraisers in my area require prepayment.

Also out of whack are realtor dot com's tax records. Where are these companies getting this data?

Realtor dot com's stated source says, "pubic records." What public records? I checked my public tax records for over a dozen homes listed on realtor dot com and the numbers don't jive. So of course Zillow will be off because their sold/tax data is off. I love that they're inaccurate though.