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Health & Fitness

There's No Place Like Home: Online or Inside

We do so much online but we can't live there!

We are so fortunate to have the world at our fingertips, rather our keyboards. The Internet has allowed us to learn, shop, socialize, entertain ourselves and work remotely at our convenience. It’s a wonderful tool.

However we need to remember that not all online information is going to be accurate and when shopping for anything, there is no substitutuon for seeing and inspecting the "real thing."

Last weekend, before the Super Bowl I had a new listing at 328 Sheridan Road in Winnetka open on a Sunday for the first time. It was a beautiful day and I had over two dozen people in the home. Some were just stopping in during a walk but most were serious buyers. Nearly all of the comments about the home were positive. At this open and at many other Sunday opens I often hear comments from buyers about how the property seemed “different” online. Usually these comments are not negative, just observations.

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We know there is a wealth of information regarding real estate online. Brokers typically have homes professionally photographed and these photos along with property descriptions are online. These sites can be a wonderful instrument when searching for a home. However they certainly are no match for seeing a home in person and working with an experienced real estate professional.

Other sites such as Zillow.com or Trulia.com are becoming popular with house hunters as well. These sites are usually not very accurate in many markets.  Both use complicated algorithms based on tax records to estimate, or in the case of Zillow, “zestimate” a home’s value.

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Along with variables outisde of the reach of computer there is no way that an online algorithm can accurately determine a property value, especially in a market like ours where the homes are very different, where so many homes have been updated over the years and where we have a complex tax assessed value system. 

For example, one of my listings somehow was duplicated on Zillow (The Zillow chat correspondent in cyber space could only say it was a “technical” error). On one “zestimate” the home was valued about 8 percent off of list price yet on the other it was valued over list price. This was on the same page, same photos and description, just different “zestimates” for the same home.  I’m sure the seller prefers the latter. 

We love the Internet, after all you are using it right at this very moment, but it's safe to say that we can't live in it.

It’s important to remember that real estate is hyper local and when purchasing an area home it is wise to work with a local agent. Please feel free to contact me at smolitor@koenigstrey.com with any comments or questions.

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