Zillow’s Zestimate is a useful starting point, but it’s an automated estimate, and in a market as diverse as Fairfield County, it can miss by a significant margin. The algorithm can’t account for your renovated kitchen, your finished lower level, the fact that your lot backs up to protected land, or that the comparable sale it’s using was a distressed property that closed below market. In Fairfield County, where home values range from roughly $399,000 in Bridgeport to over $3 million in Riverside, a 5, 10% error isn’t a rounding issue, it’s tens of thousands of dollars. A professional comparative market analysis, based on current sales and active competition in your specific neighborhood, gives you a number you can actually make decisions with.