Over the past year, you have probably heard of Zillow and their magical Zestimator home valuation tool. It seems like these type of automated valuation tools are popping up all over the web these days, and while you may be tempted to rely on Zillow valuations when shopping for real estate in Hawaii, here are a few reasons you may want to work with a qualified real estate agent on Hawaii home valuations, and not expect Zillow to work like a magic bullet on Hawaii real estate.

The Condo Factor- Zillow is a great tool for evaluation generalized home values in highly homogenized housing markets. If you are looking for a cookie cutter single family house on the surburban mainland, the Zestimator may provide a relatively close home valuation for you.

In Hawaii, the property mix is heavy on the condo and muti-family side. At least 30% of the housing market in Hawaii is currently made up of condos, and at this time Zillow is not very accurate at finding individual condo units, and does not excel in multi-family type property.

Zillow is a GIS Map Based Product- So far, we have not found any of the national GIS map based products on the web to be reliable in plotting property in Hawaii. Often times, the map pin that is supposed to represent the subject property winds up in the middle of the Pacific Ocean or maps a completely different property as the one you’re trying to locate.

Zillow is a Website- As e-mail and the Internet become even more constant and natural parts of our daily lives, it’s easy to get caught up in the latest and greatest online trends and tools, and to forget the value of good old fashioned human experience. Zillow is a website, and can perform limited functions based on finite calculations and formulas. No website should be used to replace the years of hands on experience, market know-how, and personal knowledge of a qualified real estate agent.

So, when you’re serious about buying or selling real estate in Hawaii, pick up the phone, and give me a call. I’ll be happy to work with you on home valuations, provide you with comprehensive and accurate CMAs, and help you through every step of the transaction. Plus, if you’re in town, I’ll drive you out to see a few places, and together we’ll buy your dream condo or get top dollar for your existing Hawaii real estate. Who knows. I might even buy you a shaved ice or a hot cup of Kona coffee. Betcha Zillow can’t do that!