How Do I Know What My Home Is Worth in Redmond, Oregon?
By Diana Pullen | Listing Specialist, Real Broker LLC | Serving Redmond, Bend, Terrebonne, Culver, Sisters, Prineville, Madras, La Pine, and surrounding communities
If you've ever pulled up your address on Zillow and felt a little thrill seeing that number, you're not alone. I love a good Zillow estimate too. There's something genuinely satisfying about seeing your home's value go up, especially if you've been in it for a while and put real love into it.
But here's the thing: that number is a starting point, not a finish line. And if you're thinking about selling, the difference between a Zillow estimate and an accurate market value can mean thousands of dollars in the wrong direction.
Let me explain why.
What Zillow Can and Can't See
Zillow is working with publicly available data; square footage, lot size, bedroom and bathroom count, sale history, and tax records. It's doing its best with what it has, and for a general ballpark it's not bad.
What it can't do is see inside your home.
It doesn't know if your kitchen was fully updated last year or if it still has the original 1998 cabinets. It doesn't know if you have central air conditioning or not, which in Central Oregon matters to buyers. It doesn't know how old your roof is, whether your HVAC was replaced recently, or if the floors are original hardwood or worn out carpet. It can't see that a new development is going up on the lot behind yours, or that your home backs to a greenbelt with unobstructed Cascade views.
All of those things affect what a buyer will actually pay for your home. Zillow's algorithm can't account for any of them.
What Actually Determines Your Home's Value
The number that matters when you're selling isn't your tax assessed value and it isn't your Zestimate. It's the price that will sell your home as quickly as possible for as much money as possible. Those are two different things, and finding that number requires looking at comparable sold data; homes similar to yours that have actually closed in your area recently.
Not listed. Not pending. Sold and closed.
That means looking at homes with similar square footage, similar bedroom and bathroom count, similar lot size, similar condition, and similar location within Redmond or wherever your home sits. Then adjusting for the differences: your updated kitchen versus a home that hasn't been touched since 2005, your new roof versus a neighbor's roof that's on its last season, your view versus a home that backs to a busy road.
That's a comparative market analysis, and it's what I put together for sellers before we ever talk about a list price. It's not an appraisal for tax purposes. It's a real-world picture of what buyers are paying right now for homes like yours in your specific market.
Why This Matters More Than You Think
Overpricing based on a Zillow estimate is one of the most common and most expensive mistakes sellers make. You list too high, the first two weeks pass with limited activity, days on market accumulate, and buyers start wondering what's wrong with it even if nothing is. You end up reducing, negotiating from a weaker position, and often landing below where you would have been if you'd priced correctly from the start.
Underpricing based on an estimate that didn't account for your updates is just as costly in the other direction. If Zillow doesn't know your home has been fully renovated and you take that number at face value, you could leave real money on the table.
Neither outcome is what you want. Both are avoidable with the right information upfront.
So What Is My Home Actually Worth?
The honest answer is: it depends on things only a local agent with access to real sold data can tell you. Your home's value in Redmond right now is what a motivated buyer will pay for it today, in its current condition, in your specific neighborhood, given what else is available in the market at the same price point.
That number might be higher than your Zillow estimate. It might be lower. Either way, you're better off knowing it accurately before you make any decisions, because that's the number your entire plan depends on.
How I Figure It Out
When a seller asks me what their home is worth, here's what I actually do. I pull recent closed sales in your area; typically the last three to six months, within a reasonable radius of your home, with similar characteristics. I look at the price per square foot, the days on market, the sale-to-list ratio, and what condition those homes were in when they sold. Then I factor in your home's specific condition, any updates you've made, anything that makes your home more or less competitive than what else has sold recently.
I also walk through your home. Because I can see what Zillow can't.
From there I put together a net sheet so you know not just what your home is worth, but what you'd actually walk away with after commissions, closing costs, and any mortgage payoff. That's the number that lets you plan your next chapter, and it's the one most sellers actually need.
Ready to Find Out?
If you've been curious about what your Redmond home is worth and you want a real answer based on real data, not an algorithm, I'd love to put that together for you. No pressure, no obligation; just a clear picture of where you stand so you can make an informed decision about what comes next.
And look, you could plug your address into any number of online tools and get a number back in seconds. But if you want to know what your home is actually worth and what it would take to sell it for the most money in the least amount of time, that's a conversation worth having with someone who knows this market.
I'd start with me.
Diana Pullen | Listing Specialist
Real Broker LLC | Central Oregon
541.398.5770 | soldincentraloregon.com
Schedule a call: https://www.calendly.com/diana-soldincentraloregon/consult
Market value estimates are based on comparative market analysis using recent sold data from MLS of Central Oregon. This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a formal appraisal.
