Hello all.
First things first.
Zillow uses average square foot in a one mile radius. That doesn't work. Why? Because I can have a home in Hilliard by Dublin Rd in a subdivision at 3000 sq feet for $350k and a home .25 miles over on the Scioto River that's worth $900k. The one in the subdivision and the one by the river will come in around the same, because they are the same size. Zillow doesn't factor any extenuating circumstances in. Now, that being said, if you have 10 sq miles of the same type of house it's probably incredibly useful.
I deal with this pretty frequently with my flippers. They will call me and tell me they want to bid on a house at $100k, because it's worth $180 fixed up according to Zillow. Zillow doesn't know this house is in a 1970's subdivision, but there's a new build sub-division right across the street. Once I use comp's only in that subdivision, we're back to $135k. But at least they called and didn't just bid at an auction, etc..
As far as the auditor's site, there is literally no quantifiable way they decide values in our county. Some counties go by last sales price. The county I live has some of the auditor's appointed evaluators drive by properties and guess. Want your property value to be low? Make sure your home's exterior looks like crap.
The best way to get a value is to get a Realtor's professional opinion. Don't want to work with a Realtor to buy/sell? Just pay them to do your analysis'.
:-)
