Homeowners in Fairfield and New Haven County who rely on automated valuation estimates from sites like Zillow may be mispricing their properties, according to Kristin Egmont, a Connecticut real estate agent with over 20 years of experience in these markets. Egmont cautions that while many sellers anchor to these online numbers, they often fail to reflect a home's true market value.
“Zillow is not an accurate reflection of value,” Egmont said. “It’s an estimate, but it doesn’t tell you what’s in the house. It doesn’t know what kind of fixtures you have. It’s just looking at area sales. Your house could be worth more than what Zillow is saying – or it could be worth less.”
Automated valuation models (AVMs) rely on public data such as square footage, bedroom and bathroom counts, location, and recent nearby sales. By design, they cannot account for property condition, updates, or unique circumstances that affect value. Egmont notes that a home with a new kitchen, furnace, central air, roof, and paint will command a higher price than an identical-sized home untouched for 20 years, yet an AVM may not reflect that difference.
The reverse scenario also occurs. Egmont recently worked with a seller who saw a $900,000 automated estimate on his home. After an in-person assessment, she valued it at $750,000 due to a shared driveway, proximity to a parkway, and needed interior updates. The seller listed at $849,000, but after six weeks on the market, it sold for $749,000. “Right where I said it needed to be,” Egmont said. “If you overprice it, people are going to look past your house.”
Egmont’s pricing strategy focuses on creating urgency. She typically lists homes on Monday as “coming soon,” allowing buyers to schedule appointments starting Thursday. Open houses run Saturday and Sunday, and by the following Monday, she often has multiple offers, frequently above asking. “When buyers see value, it creates urgency,” she said. “When there’s urgency, it creates a multiple-offer situation.”
She emphasizes that pricing is not static. “Pricing is a moment in time,” she said. “If a seller comes to me in January and wants to list in spring, I’ll give them a price now, but we’ll revisit it before we go to market. What sold six months ago may not reflect what buyers are doing today.” Egmont recommends using the most recent comparable sales, ideally from the week before launch, to set a realistic price.
For sellers tempted to rely on online estimates, Egmont advises using them only as a starting point for discussion. “That’s why you need a real estate professional to come and look at your house,” she said. “There are things you can do to increase value. There are also things that will hurt it. Zillow doesn’t know the difference.” More details on Egmont’s process are available at kristinegmont.com/process.
This approach matters because mispricing can lead to prolonged time on market, reduced buyer interest, and lower final sale prices. In competitive Fairfield County, where buyers are active but informed, a home that sits too long signals potential issues. “The issue with a house sitting on the market longer than it should is that people start to think there’s something wrong with it,” Egmont said. “Even if there isn’t.”
Egmont is a Connecticut real estate agent specializing in Fairfield and New Haven County, with over 20 years of experience. Learn more at kristinegmont.com.
