When looking for your next home, should you use Zillow or a Santa Barbara Realtor?

Ever since Zillow launched, people interested in the real estate market have debated whether the popular app would some someday replace Realtors, brokers and agents.

It’s true that if you’re curious about real estate values in Santa Barbara and elsewhere, Zillow can be a really useful tool. Zillow provides users with a “Zestimate” — Zillow’s calculation of what it thinks the property is worth. The app also allows you to search for homes much like any other “homes for sale” search site.

Sounds kind of like what real estate agents do, right? But there are some key differences.

Who Knows More? Zillow or a Santa Barbara Realtor?

When deciding between Zillow or working with a Santa Barbara Realtor, let’s start with understanding the Zestimate. A “Zestimate” is simply a calculation of what Zillow calculates a property is worth, based on publicly available information and Zillow’s own proprietary algorithm. Its home search tools also are based on public information that’s available to them through the MLS or other websites.

Either Zillow or a Santa Barbara Realtor can provide this same information. However, that’s where the similarities between Zillow and Santa Barbara Realtors end. Because it’s the information real estate agents have that isn’t public, that makes us invaluable to home buyers and sellers.

The debate begins with Zestimates. You might ask, if Zillow knows what a home in Santa Barbara is worth, why do we need agents? You can simply punch in your address, get your Zestimate and list your home for sale. If you’re a buyer, you could do the same thing and let Zillow tell you what your offer should be.

Fans of Zillow argue that this kind of price discovery makes for a more efficient market.

The challenge is that Zillow when it comes to Santa Barbara home values is that it uses algorithms to analyze public data and estimate values. The data has to be both accurate and complete to get an accurate estimate of value. Meaning, it has to include every element that goes into a home’s availability and value.

But the information Zillow has access to isn’t perfect on either count. A Realtor can still tell you much more about the local real estate market and specific homes in it, than a computer program ever could.

Case In Point: Calle Rosales in San Roque

Last month, we closed on the perfect San Roque home for my client just before Thanksgiving. We found out about it, saw it, and had our offer accepted within 24 hours. But Zillow didn’t even know the home was available.

My client had a very good sense of what she was looking for and after visiting several homes that fit, we were outbid and lost out on a few offers.

Meanwhile back at the office — yes, we still meet face to face even in the digital age! — I was talking with my colleagues about this case and shared our price range and what we were looking for in a home.

My colleague heard this and remembered that one of her own clients removed a home from the market last spring and called to inquire about listing it again. We went to see the home and our offer was accepted within a day.

That’s pretty efficient. Had my client been relying on Zillow, she would have never found her perfect San Roque home.

This kind of thing — discovering homes that are newly listed, understanding what the seller wants to achieve, and finding a buyer that fits — happens quite efficiently offline. It happens when real estate professionals talk to one another.

So Which Is Better — Zillow or a Santa Barbara Realtor?

There is a lot to be said for doing business face to face. I agree that sometimes businesses that have been around a while can be helped and even improved by technology, and that technology plays a larger part in our daily lives and in our decision-making.

I certainly use technology in new ways every day – clients can book time with me online, find out their home value, save searches at my website, learn about our communities, and stay in touch with me on social media.

Buyers and sellers use the web to become more knowledgeable about neighborhoods, values, mortgage rates, open houses, and availability. Zillow is a tool that can help – but it can’t give you a complete picture of a home’s value or the local market in the way a Realtor can.

In today’s market, successfully finding and closing on the right home means striking a balance between data sourced from websites like Zillow and relying on the kind of local market expertise and access that a real estate professional has.

How have you used Zillow or other internet tools in your search? Leave a comment below – I’d love to hear from you!