Why do Zillow and Redfin show different values for my Dallas-Fort Worth home?

• Online estimates are automated calculations. They use what the site knows about your home and nearby homes, and each site combines it differently.
• They can't see inside. They don't know whether you redid the kitchen, replaced the roof or have foundation work coming.
• The appraisal district's value is for property taxes, as of January 1. It isn't the value a buyer would pay now.
• The lender's appraisal is yet another number, done once there's a buyer with a loan.
• The value you can make decisions with comes from comparing your home, in its real condition, with similar homes that sold nearby.

Sites like Zillow and Redfin show an automated estimate. Put simply, a computer takes the data it has on your home (size, bedrooms, bathrooms, year built, location) and on nearby homes, and calculates a number. Each site has its own formula and its own data sources.

That's why they often disagree:

• Different data. One site may be missing a bathroom, have the wrong square footage, or include a nearby sale the other doesn't.
• Different formulas. One gives more weight to certain sales, the other to others. The result moves.
• Different timing. Each site updates on its own schedule. One may reflect a recent sale and the other not yet.
• What they can't know. Renovations, pending repairs, the view, road noise, the floor plan, the lot. A computer can't see any of that from the outside.

Here's what that means for you: an online estimate is a starting point for a conversation, not a number to make decisions on.

That's a different thing. The Texas Comptroller explains that appraisal districts value property at market value as of January 1, using mass appraisal: they group similar properties and use recent sales to value the typical homes in each group.

Three things follow from that:

1. It has a date. It's the value as of January 1, not today.
2. It's for taxes. It determines what you pay, not what to ask for your home.
3. It's done in bulk. By groups of homes, not by visiting yours.

That's why your appraisal notice can look high while an online estimate looks low, or the other way around. Neither tells you what a buyer would pay today.

Once you've accepted an offer from a buyer using a loan, their lender orders an appraisal. An appraiser looks at the home and compares it with nearby sales so the lender knows the home supports the loan.

That appraisal happens after you've already set a price and accepted an offer. So it pays to base your price from the start on the same kind of comparison the appraiser will make: nearby, similar, recent sales. That way there are no surprises halfway through the contract.

Want your home valued that way? Get your home's real value, no commitment.

1. Pick similar nearby sales. Same type of home, similar size, same part of town, sold recently. What actually sold, not what was listed.
2. Look at what's for sale and what didn't sell. The homes competing with yours today and the ones that sat unsold say a lot about price.
3. Adjust for the differences. An extra bedroom, a remodeled kitchen, a new roof, a pool, a bigger lot, or repairs that are due.
4. See the inside of your home. The one step no website can take.
5. Land on a sensible range and set the price with your plan in mind: whether you're buying next, how soon you need to move, what you want to walk away with.

When you only sell, a bad price costs you time or money. When you sell to buy your next home, it costs you both, and it throws off your purchase too.

• If the number is too high: the home sits, your purchase gets pushed back, and by the time you cut the price you've lost weeks you could have spent shopping with cash in hand.
• If the number is too low: it sells fast, but you walk away with less for the next down payment. Sometimes that gap decides whether the home you want is within reach.
• If you don't know the number: you can't tell your lender what you're bringing, and the approval stays half-finished.

Here's what that means for you: before you shop for the next home, you need a value that holds up against real sales. That number, minus your payoff and the costs of selling, tells you what you walk away with. And with that, you and your lender can see what comes next.

For the families Veronica Yeary works with across Dallas-Fort Worth, that number goes on the page first, before anyone opens a single listing.

It also changes how you read every listing after that. Once you know your own number, a price on a website stops being a guess about your future and becomes a simple question: does this fit the plan or not? That clarity is worth more than any estimate.

• Pricing off the highest estimate you found. The home sits, and later you have to cut the price.
• Getting discouraged by the lowest one. Sometimes the site doesn't know what your home has, and you hold off when selling actually made sense.
• Mixing up the appraisal district value and market value. One is for taxes as of January 1; the other is what a buyer would pay today.
• "My neighbor sold for this much, so mine is worth the same." Plenty of people used to price by word of mouth. Their home may differ in size, condition or sale date.
• Planning your next purchase around an online estimate. If that number is off, the whole buying plan is off.

Picture a Dallas-Fort Worth family that wants to sell and move up. One site shows one number, another site shows a different one, and the appraisal district's notice has a third. They don't know which to believe.

After reviewing similar nearby sales and walking through the home, it turns out one site was missing a bathroom and the other didn't know the kitchen had been remodeled. The real value falls between the two estimates, and with that number the family can see what they'd walk away with and what they can buy.

This is an example, not a real client. For the families Veronica Yeary works with across Dallas-Fort Worth, price is set from nearby sales and a look inside the home.

• Your home's details on each site: size, bedrooms, bathrooms, year built. If they're wrong, so is the estimate.
• Your account at your county appraisal district, to see your taxable value and the data behind it.
• Similar nearby sales, with their condition and sale date.
• The homes competing with yours right now.
• What your home has that a computer can't see, and what it needs.

Why do Zillow and Redfin give different values for my home?

Each site runs an automated estimate with its own data and its own formula. If one has a different detail or weighs other sales more, the number changes. Neither sees inside your home.

Is my Zillow estimate my home's real value?

It's a starting point, not what a buyer would pay today. The value you can decide on comes from similar nearby sales and a look inside the home.

Why does the appraisal district show a different value?

The appraisal district values property for taxes, as of January 1, in groups of similar homes. It's a different number with a different purpose. It isn't the price to sell today.

Can I fix my home's details on these sites?

Many sites let owners review their home's details. Even so, the estimate stays automated. To set a price, you compare against real sales.

How do I find out what my home is worth to sell?

Compare your home, in its real condition, with similar homes that sold nearby recently and with the ones competing today. You can request it with no commitment at veronicayeary.com/home-value.

If you're stuck between three numbers, get one you can use. Get your home's real value, no commitment: veronicayeary.com/home-value.

Call or text 469-441-8890 · veronica@veronicayeary.com

Veronica Yeary, Realtor®, CRS, ABR, SRS and CIPS. All City Real Estate DFW. Here's what happens next: we look at your home, work out the number, and you decide.