Manipulating Zillow Values?

[Ericka G.]

Is there a way to "manipulate" Zillow values? I'm under contract on a triplex and have noticed the Zestimate value swing from $164k-$200k back and forth over the course of several weeks. My hunch is that the owner or realtor is doing something to manipulate the estimate. I know that Zestimates tend to be less than accurate, so it doesn't really matter BUT if there are tips or tricks to help home values look better online, I'd like to know them ;) Any thoughts on this?

[Jennifer Rysdam]

I've really lost any faith in Zillow values in the last year. My own houses have bounced up and down constantly. My neighbor has a house for sale for $499,000 and zillow says it's worth $295,000.  https://www.zillow.com/savedhomes/for_sale/1159609...

It says that my house that I just paid $220,000 for is worth $186,000. Then there are horrible repo houses that I wouldn't pay more than $10,000 grand for that they say are worth $65,000.

I messed around with my listing some when I was selling to see if I could change it for the better and it really didn't make a difference. It will be interesting to see if anyone has any more insight into how they price them.