Who is doing these "formal assessments"? Are these broker price opinions (performed by a real estate broker)? It seems very odd they would use Zillow data instead of the MLS to find comps.
When you refinance the bank usually hire someone independent to estimate the value of a property.
I did it before Zillow, and they start with the property value as estimated by the city for tax purposed and look at recent sales that are similar in the area, and adjust.
Yeah, usually either a professional appraiser or a real estate broker- neither one should be relying on data from Zillow, both usually would use data from a local MLS.
I did it before Zillow, and they start with the property value as estimated by the city for tax purposed and look at recent sales that are similar in the area, and adjust.