zoopla paranoia question

[Coco H]

Stupid but I went onto Zoopla - looked at our house. Now it did have the correct price we paid for it when it was a 4 bed 1 bath and 2 reception house.
However Zoopla claimed it was a 5 bed, 2 bathroom 3 reception room house - which is is now - but we only completed this work in Decemeber - so how does Zoopla know that!!!!!!!!

[V8mate]

Google Street View.

The all-knowing eye.

[randlemarcus]

Did you have to submit for planning at all? I'd hazard a guess its from there.

[Coco H]

Yup we submitted for planning in 2007 but you don't have to do the work for quite some time from having approval.
But isn't that a fair bit of work for them to do - check all planning applications ?

[Plotloss]

Electronically driven from building regs, probably.

[Jasandjules]

I don't think it is hugely accurate.

Our 5 bed (well six or 5 with study), 3 bath double garaged place is worth less than next door's 4 bed (or 3 and a study) 2 bath single garage according to Zoopla......

[steve_amv8]

Jasandjules said:

I don't think it is hugely accurate.

Our 5 bed (well six or 5 with study), 3 bath double garaged place is worth less than next door's 4 bed (or 3 and a study) 2 bath single garage according to Zoopla......

... and it doesn't seem to take in to account the condition at purchase when it works out the "estimated value" now. Ours was bought for £320k as a shell which needed total refurb. After 4 months it was revalued for the mortgage at £420k minimum, which was approx 7 months ago.

I also suspect it just looks for properties in the surrounding area and assumes they all drop/increase in value by the same percentage, regardless of other key factors!

[Merc fan]

steve_amv8 said:

Jasandjules said:

I don't think it is hugely accurate.

Our 5 bed (well six or 5 with study), 3 bath double garaged place is worth less than next door's 4 bed (or 3 and a study) 2 bath single garage according to Zoopla......

... and it doesn't seem to take in to account the condition at purchase when it works out the "estimated value" now. Ours was bought for £320k as a shell which needed total refurb. After 4 months it was revalued for the mortgage at £420k minimum, which was approx 7 months ago.

I also suspect it just looks for properties in the surrounding area and assumes they all drop/increase in value by the same percentage, regardless of other key factors!

Steve...Zoopla does give you the opportunity to update it and account for work that you've had done since the last transaction. It allows you to tell it what kind of work you did and how much you spent and when the work was done. It then updates the valuation. I think Zoopla's quite good and just as good as an estate agent who goes through exactly the same process of looking at what it sold for last time and what other properties in the area have sold for.

[Merc fan]

Jasandjules said:

I don't think it is hugely accurate.

I don't think Gary Gelboy or Henry Braying-Twatte of the local estate agents are that accurate either! It's all guesswork really. The value is the price someone pays for it in the end.

[Jasandjules]

Merc fan said:

Steve...Zoopla does give you the opportunity to update it and account for work that you've had done since the last transaction. It allows you to tell it what kind of work you did and how much you spent and when the work was done. It then updates the valuation. I think Zoopla's quite good and just as good as an estate agent who goes through exactly the same process of looking at what it sold for last time and what other properties in the area have sold for.

Indeed, why not tell random people who have no right to know what has happened to your house all about it including how much you spent...................

[Merc fan]

Jasandjules said:

Merc fan said:

Steve...Zoopla does give you the opportunity to update it and account for work that you've had done since the last transaction. It allows you to tell it what kind of work you did and how much you spent and when the work was done. It then updates the valuation. I think Zoopla's quite good and just as good as an estate agent who goes through exactly the same process of looking at what it sold for last time and what other properties in the area have sold for.

Indeed, why not tell random people who have no right to know what has happened to your house all about it including how much you spent...................

Hey if it drives up prices in your area and you get a free valuation for your property so you can sell it, who cares?

[Jasandjules]

Merc fan said:

Hey if it drives up prices in your area and you get a free valuation for your property so you can sell it, who cares?

Will it drive up prices? Are people making offers based on Zoopla? (Honest question).
I can get free valuations from estate agents (though I do agree it's more hassle because they have to come and look round), and also they at least look at the state of the decor and how old the kitchens/bathrooms etc are.

[Merc fan]

Jasandjules said:

Merc fan said:

Hey if it drives up prices in your area and you get a free valuation for your property so you can sell it, who cares?

Will it drive up prices? Are people making offers based on Zoopla? (Honest question).
I can get free valuations from estate agents (though I do agree it's more hassle because they have to come and look round), and also they at least look at the state of the decor and how old the kitchens/bathrooms etc are.

I think more and more people are turning to the internet to educate them on what they should value their property at. The advent of Land Registry prices on the internet (Zoopla, Rightmove, Nethouseprices.com etc etc) is starting to remove the smoke and mirrors service that the estate agent performs. After all, what does he know : what he and other agents have currently got on offer, what prices sold for locally and what the market has been doing since it last sold. So even your local agent is guessing what it'll sell for and he'll take your information and store it just like Zoopla. The internet will replace a large part of what estate agents do and drive their prices down. Charging 1.5% plus VAT on a £200k house equals £3,450. That's a lot for what they do if you ask me. What do you think?

[Road Pest]

My house is apparently detached, it is in fact in the middle of a small terrace or mews! I know they get there info from Land Registry but come on!

IMO prices are pretty flat, better decor and nice garden etc only adds to saleability these days not actual value. If you spent 5k on the bathroom don't expect that to add any money to the val at the mo. I look at most recently sold and compare floor size on mouseprice.com, then look at figures for how that area has fared since based on Nationwide, HBOS and Hometrack figures. If you can be bothered to do that of course!

[Merc fan]

Road Pest said:

My house is apparently detached, it is in fact in the middle of a small terrace or mews! I know they get there info from Land Registry but come on!

IMO prices are pretty flat, better decor and nice garden etc only adds to saleability these days not actual value. If you spent 5k on the bathroom don't expect that to add any money to the val at the mo. I look at most recently sold and compare floor size on mouseprice.com, then look at figures for how that area has fared since based on Nationwide, HBOS and Hometrack figures. If you can be bothered to do that of course!

All of the companies that you mention are all doing the same thing : taking the transaction prices (and numbers of transactions) from the Land Registry (prepared by a company called Calnea Analytics) and then making assumptions about the market. You do this yourself but some of these companies apply science and maths (far beyond me!) to arrive at their results. End of the day, though, it's tantamount to the same thing.

[trooperiziz]

I'd be more than happy if I got what Zoopla said for my house! Bought in 2006 for £140k as a new build, currently worth £128k according to Zoopla.

I don't believe it for a second...

[Road Pest]

Merc fan said:

Road Pest said:

My house is apparently detached, it is in fact in the middle of a small terrace or mews! I know they get there info from Land Registry but come on!

IMO prices are pretty flat, better decor and nice garden etc only adds to saleability these days not actual value. If you spent 5k on the bathroom don't expect that to add any money to the val at the mo. I look at most recently sold and compare floor size on mouseprice.com, then look at figures for how that area has fared since based on Nationwide, HBOS and Hometrack figures. If you can be bothered to do that of course!

All of the companies that you mention are all doing the same thing : taking the transaction prices (and numbers of transactions) from the Land Registry (prepared by a company called Calnea Analytics) and then making assumptions about the market. You do this yourself but some of these companies apply science and maths (far beyond me!) to arrive at their results. End of the day, though, it's tantamount to the same thing.

Nice to know who does the stats then. I have always found the figures on Zoopla a little inconsistent with the figures that I've seen on the first page when you input a postcode, however their get estimate feature may be useful so will maybe use that in the future and see how it fares with my own calculations.

It's funny though, the building society put my flat at 155k for remortgage purpose, Zoopla is at 130k and the Estate agent said 115k.

ETA 144k was the sale price in August 2005.

Edited by Road Pest on Friday 20th March 20:43