PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.

We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

Zoopla estimates - easily changed :-(

2

Comments

  • I hate sites like this as they don't take into account anything that you have done to the house. Unless we, as owners go in and update it, then other people just look at what you brought it for and have no idea of the state you brought it in or what you have done to it. It's worse if you live on a road with unique houses and none the same as the buyers have no idea whatsoever and nothing to compare to.
  • Tiggergirl
    Tiggergirl Posts: 147 Forumite
    googler wrote: »
    Bear in mind this only renders the Zoopla 'estimates' to be inaccurate - I only look on Zoopla for Sold Prices - which are, with some minor exceptions, 100% accurate, since they're based on data supplied by Registers of Scotland and Land Registry.

    There are some potentially big errors. The house two doors down from me is a 4 bedroomed semi and sold at the height of the market at roughly 175k. The sale is listed by the land registry as a detached house.

    So when I put my house on the market (4 bed detached) in a few weeks, people will use that as a comparator. Not only is the house a semi, but the house as a whole is less than 2/3 the size of ours, and has no garage and a tiny garden. Even if I go with a realistic asking price it will still look overvalued when compared to that house :(
  • WellKnownSid
    WellKnownSid Posts: 1,756 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Our postcode covers at least 20 square miles, and as you can imagine no two houses are the same. To make matters worse, our house is listed twice, both incorrect variations on the same name due to a post office error, which means that now the post office are up to date, then there will soon be a third variant!

    The two variants list different price estimates, despite being the same house - we bought well below the lowest of one, the other estimate (which we never spotted until after completion!) shows an estimate over 50% higher!
  • Trollfever
    Trollfever Posts: 2,051 Forumite
    Tiggergirl wrote: »
    There are some potentially big errors. The house two doors down from me is a 4 bedroomed semi and sold at the height of the market at roughly 175k. The sale is listed by the land registry as a detached house.

    So when I put my house on the market (4 bed detached) in a few weeks, people will use that as a comparator. Not only is the house a semi, but the house as a whole is less than 2/3 the size of ours, and has no garage and a tiny garden. Even if I go with a realistic asking price it will still look overvalued when compared to that house :(

    I sold a detached house which is listed as a semi at the Land Registry.

    This pushed up the prices for all the semis on the road.
  • geoffky
    geoffky Posts: 6,835 Forumite
    We paid cash for our house in aug last year and it still has not shown up anywhere as sold..ie land registry,,,,,any ideas?
    It is nice to see the value of your house going up'' Why ?
    Unless you are planning to sell up and not live anywhere, I can;t see the advantage.
    If you are planning to upsize the new house will cost more.
    If you are planning to downsize your new house will cost more than it should
    If you are trying to buy your first house its almost impossible.
  • hcb42
    hcb42 Posts: 5,962 Forumite
    I live on an old established road (not that long a road), and no two houses are the same, there are marked differences in styles from £2m mansions to £150K flats. Zoopla cannot compute this at all!
  • sonastin
    sonastin Posts: 3,210 Forumite
    geoffky wrote: »
    We paid cash for our house in aug last year and it still has not shown up anywhere as sold..ie land registry,,,,,any ideas?

    Was it a reposession or an auction? I understand that these sales aren't reported in the same was as ordinary property transactions. I know of a few other gaps in the data as well (from being nosy at what friends and family paid for their houses ;)). Have you checked that the land registry shows you as owner? For £4 its worth checking whether this is just a blip or a serious issue that you've got!
  • poppy10_2
    poppy10_2 Posts: 6,583 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Zoopla has just about reached the point of being a joke.
    Zoopla has always been a joke. I can go in right now and push up the estmated prices for all the houses on my street. Bunch of jokers.
    poppy10
  • googler
    googler Posts: 16,103 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Tiggergirl wrote: »
    There are some potentially big errors. The house two doors down from me is a 4 bedroomed semi and sold at the height of the market at roughly 175k. The sale is listed by the land registry as a detached house.

    So it's the Land Registry's fault, not Zoopla's?

    Sorry, but I count one instance like this as a minor exception, not a major error.....
  • loracan1
    loracan1 Posts: 2,287 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    boots_babe wrote: »
    Hi,


    It occurred to me I hadn't 'claimed' our new house on Zoopla since moving a couple of years ago. So I logged on and did that, then was prompted to 'improve the estimate' by adding further details. Which I did.
    Yes, I've done that:)

    We did some major work last year, a biggish extension, new boiler, and refurbished throughout, new bathrooms etc. So I put those in on the 'improvements' section, all filled out perfectly honestly.
    I've...umm...done that too but not perfectly honestly...


    So by putting in the renovation spend, it has massively bumped up the property value, and now shows as being the most expensive on the street by far. Now, I'm still taking with a pinch of salt what this estimate says, but the reason for posting is that in effect, this means anyone looking to sell their house, can sneakily 'bump up' the displayed estimate on Zoopla
    I've never thought of it as sneakily bumping it up but my house outstrips the neighbouring terraces by 400% these days.


    I'm pretty shocked tbh, and to me, this renders the figures on Zoopla completely pointless (whereas until now they were at least 'pinch of salt' in terms of usage).
    Yes, I agree (not the shocked bit)
    boots_babe wrote: »
    The other thing that makes it worse, is that although the estimate goes up, the details I put in regarding the refurbishments are not mentioned anywhere on the public profile for the house.

    At least if they WERE listed, then a prospective buyer would see them, so that when they turn up for a viewing they could go 'where's that big 5 bedroom extension you put on Zoopla?'! :(
    I have to be honest and say that while anyone browsing Zoopla might think I have an extra 5 bedrooms and swimming pool it's a mild embellishment
    In my opinion, as I've no plans whatsoever to sell my house in the next 10 years then it's absolutely no-one's business to know or indeed speculate how much my house is worth, how many bedrooms it has or whether there really is a pool concealed in the back yard.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 348.2K Banking & Borrowing
  • 252.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 452.3K Spending & Discounts
  • 240.7K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 617K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 175.6K Life & Family
  • 253.9K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.