Valuation

[Aaron Smith]

Hello everyone, 

I'm a new wanna-be investor and have been looking at several properties. Quite a few come up on Zillow. When I look at the sales price I often see the "Zillow Estimate" which can be quite low compared to the sales price. 

My questions are: Is the Zillow value based on the latest county tax information? If so, should I ignore this value when making an offer? How do I best determine the value when trying to make an officer, especially on MFH's such as 4-plexes? 

Thanks so much in advance! 

All the best, 

Aaron