u/Intrepid_Collar9684

I’m a realtor here in the Bay Area and also own my home. I’ve owned it since 2022 and have done some work to it since we bought it. I find that a lot of clients rely heavily on online valuations via Redfin/Zillow but time and time again those valuations are off by a lot. Which is such a shame for those who may actually need to sell their home to access equity or for whatever reason. My house online says I’ve lost money since I bought it but in reality I’ve gained about 300k in equity. I ran comps on similar properties, as I do and created a cma before we decided to refinance. My comps came out to be around $1,000,000, we got our appraisal report back and our appraisal came in at $1,050,000. It’s a triplex in downtown Oakland that we bought for $850,000 but Redfin says it’s worth $770,000. I say this to say that you may not actually know your homes true value without consulting an expert. Especially those who are relying on online valuations and are really in need of access to those home funds, it’s worth getting that home valuation. Or just for those who are curious in general about home equity for future planning. You absolutely cannot trust Zillow/redfin to help you value your home.