6 Tips On How To Use Zillow Mortgage Calculator
How do I use Zillow to stick around I’m going to give you 6 expert tips from real estate agents on the best way to use Zillow. And I want to talk a little bit today about Zillow and give you some tips specifically six and maybe a bonus at the end on the best way to use Zillow but also some things to watch out for from watching out on Zillow as well.
Zillow is a great tool because there’s so much information when I say Zillow, also
• Trulia.com
• Realtor.com
• Redfin.com
These are all great websites that will help you gather some initial information and data on the homes you’re looking to possibly buy or also sell. So let’s look at six tips from local real estate agents about Zillow.
1. Don’t Rely on A Zestimate
Tip number one, don’t rely on the Zestimate. So if you’re familiar with Zillow, Zillow, till termed this created this word Zestimate Zestimate is kind of like an estimate of what your home would sell for. So they think based on the algorithm, and it is usually pretty good in regards to communities. So if you have a bunch of homes in the same neighborhood, it’s usually pretty good. But if you are a rural home, and you’re on five acres of land, and your closest home sales comparable was four years ago, they’re going to be way off on their Zestimate. But in general, if you’re in a gated community or something like that you have a lot of the same homes are probably a pretty good starting point. But check with your real estate agent because depending on markets, whether they’re going up or down, that is where you should look at listing or putting an offer in on a home. So this estimate is number one.
2. Use Zillow To Find A Good Agent
Number two, use Zillow to find a good agent. Now, this can be a little bit tricky because, on Zillow, you can search for agents in your area who have been ranked high in regards to a lot of reviews which can be manufactured from time to time. But what is good I like about Zillow in regards to finding an agent, is you can typically see how many homes that agent has sold or help buyers buy in the areas you’re looking it’s really nice, you have to scroll down when you find the agent tab. But you can see the
• Zones,
• The areas and
• Neighborhoods
• The price points
you can see all the products that that agent has sold or if they’re not a very active agent have not sold over the last couple of years. I think that’s a good tool in regard to finding an agent.
3. Hire Your Whole Team
hire your whole team through Zillow. Now, this can be very tricky because a lot of people on Zillow do something that I like to call pay-to-play. So you may have mortgage people on there who are paying to be on there. Most of the suggested realtors are paying to be on there. So that doesn’t mean you’re going to get the best not necessarily so be careful there not only with your realtor choice but also with other vendors, whether you’re looking at a mortgage person on their lender of some sort, home inspectors, or anything like that. Be very cautious. I would definitely suggest once you find a good real estate agent, use your realtor to suggest quality vendors that they’ve used that they’ve vetted that they’ve had for years so that you know you’re getting the right quality source person to help you through the home buying or selling process.
4. Double Check Building Policies
Double check building policies and what I would mean by this especially here in southwest Florida. Double-check your different restrictions whether you have
• Pet restrictions in that community
• Kid restrictions,
• Rental restrictions,
a lot of places around here have a minimum of three to four-month rentals. You cannot do a lot of properties around here in the Naples beat Estero Fort Myers area for weekly rentals like a VRBO. There are a lot of restrictions there if you’re in a gated community or a condo association.
Also, look and have your realtor help you pull this data because this is hard to get correct on Zillow and that is the HOA or the condo fees. I would say 9 out of 10 Those are wrong specifically even when it’s a golf community. I have people ask me, John, why is this condo only $175,000. Well, it’s because their golf fee is $50,000 to get in on the first year, and then $10,000 A year after that. So the condo can be inexpensive for this area. So check with your realtor, because Zillow and these other websites do not accurately pull in all of this extra data.
5. Loan Mortgage Calculator
Now, I know I’ve said Ben Be careful on a lot of these things, specifically the last two when using Zillow, but this one I really like. I love their budgeting tool on there. And what that is, is their Loan Mortgage Calculator. I do like this. I think this is pretty accurate because it’s just numbered and you’re putting them in there. So if you’re purchasing a home for $400,000, you’re gonna put 20% down, you know, the HOA or condo fee is $400 a month and you know from previous tax bills that it’s going to be $4,000 a year and by now you figured out home insurance is gonna run around $150 a month. You can figure out pretty accurately what If your mortgage payment per month is going to be I like this tool. There are a lot of them out there. But I like Zillow is it’s very accurate in regards to helping you with this and giving you suggestions as well to follow homes you are interested in. A lot of times on Zillow, you can hit a heart button or something like that.
6. Follow Homes You Are Interested In
And you can actually follow those homes and when they disappear, they disappear off your list as well too. They go pending, or they just disappear altogether and then when they close typically when an agent puts it in the MLS, it will show you what that home is closed for. So follow those especially if you’re looking to purchase down the road. You can get very acclimated with a neighborhood or community that you’re looking to purchase in and you have an idea of when you’re ready to make that offer if your offer is at the right price based on what you’ve seen the other homes sell for so follow homes.
Conclusion
That’s it on the six Zillow tips. If some of these seem a little overwhelming, contact your local real estate agent like myself, here’s the deal on the MLS. It’s way better than Zillow in regards to all of these things because real estate agents can really hone down the search criteria. Zillow has a lot of options on search criteria, but it doesn’t have all of them they pull only a small portion from the MLS data feed in regards to the information on there. I’ve already talked a little bit about how your Realtor can really highlight that and really help you stay away from homes that won’t fit what you’re looking for. So have your agents set up the portal search for you it is way more accurate and helpful. But initially don’t hesitate to use Zillow and these third-party websites. I’m John see your local real estate agent here in sunny southwest Florida feel free to call text or email me Have a great week.