CazaShort answer: open Zillow’s map search, switch the filter to Sold, draw a boundary around the home, match on property type, bedrooms, size and sale date, then take the median price per square foot of the closest 3–6 sales. It takes about ten minutes once you’ve done it twice.
Comps (comparable sales) are recently sold homes that are close to and similar to the one you’re looking at. Agents pull them from the MLS. Buyers, investors and anyone without MLS access can get a usable first set from Zillow, which shows most closed sales with price, date, size and photos. Here’s the method, and then the places it breaks.
1. Write down the subject’s facts
From the listing page, note the property type (house, condo, townhome, 2–4 units), bedrooms, bathrooms, living square footage, lot size, year built and the address. Comps are only as good as the match, and the match starts with these six facts.
2. Switch the map to Sold
On the Zillow map search, open the “For Sale” dropdown and choose “Sold.” In the filters, set “Sold in last” to 3 months if the area is busy, 6 months if it’s slower. Older sales are usable, but prices move, and a sale from last year says less about this month.
3. Draw a boundary
Use the Draw tool to trace a shape around the subject. In a dense area, roughly half a mile does the job. In suburban or rural areas, widen it until you have at least a handful of sales. Stay on the same side of anything that clearly splits the market, like a freeway or a city line, because sales across that line can price differently for reasons that have nothing to do with the house.
4. Match on four things
- Same property type. Never mix condos with houses, or a duplex with a single-family home. They sell to different buyers at different prices per foot.
- Bedrooms within one. A 3-bed and a 4-bed can be comps; a 2-bed and a 5-bed are not.
- Living area within about 20 percent. Price per square foot drifts as homes get bigger or smaller, so keep the sizes close.
- Age within a decade or two, unless both have been renovated to a similar standard.
Rank what’s left by distance and sale date and keep the closest 3–6. Three is thin but workable. Six is plenty; past that you’re adding noise.
5. Do the math
For each comp, divide the sold price by the living square footage to get price per square foot. Take the median of those figures, not the average, so one unusual sale doesn’t drag the number. Multiply the median by the subject’s square footage and you have a rough bracket for what similar homes have been closing at.
Then open each comp’s photos. Condition, a remodeled kitchen, a garage, a usable yard or a view can swing a sale well off the per-foot median. The number tells you where the pack is; the photos tell you where the subject sits inside it.
Where Zillow comps go wrong
- Non-disclosure states. In Texas and a dozen other states, sale prices aren’t public record, so Zillow often shows a sold date with no price. You need MLS access, or an agent, for the figure.
- Mixed property types. Zillow’s “Sold” results can put a condo next to a house on the same street. Check the type on each one.
- Off-market and family transfers. Some “sold” records are not arm’s-length sales. A price far below the rest with no listing photos is a sign to drop it.
- Stale data. Sales can take weeks to appear, and the most recent, most relevant sale may not be on the map yet.
- Pending is not sold. A pending listing tells you the asking price drew a contract, not what the buyer agreed to pay.
Not an appraisal, and not a CMA. It’s a fast, honest first read. If you’re an agent putting numbers in front of a client, check the MLS before you do.
Do it faster with Caza
Caza is a free Chrome extension for Zillow. On any listing, click Sales comps and it runs Zillow’s own Recently Sold search around the home, keeps property types apart, stars the closest matches, shows the median price and price per square foot, and lets you widen the radius, add older sales, or drop a comp that doesn’t fit. One more click prints a one- or two-page PDF comps report with your name, brokerage and phone in the header. Not an appraisal, and it says so on the report.
Caza pulls sales comps into a drawer on the Zillow listing and prints the report.
Try Caza freeCaza is independent and not affiliated with Zillow. Comps and rents come from public Zillow pages and are a starting point, not an appraisal.