A short ownership window on Zillow deserves a second look only when it is really short, roughly four to six months or less. Turnover around two years is often just life: job relocations, transfers, a change in family situation. We list plenty of homes where the sellers bought a couple of years earlier and are moving for a genuine reason. A true flip shows up in that much tighter window, so a cluster of homes bought and re-listed inside a few months is the pattern worth examining. Affordable, high-migration markets also naturally show more turnover, simply because more people are moving in and out. The more useful reframe: stop anchoring to what the seller originally paid. A seller can advertise a 20% discount off their own purchase price and still be overpriced, or list well above their cost basis and still be a good buy. Their basis tells you about their situation, and nothing about the property's value. Evaluate the home on its own merits: recent comparable sales, condition, location. Reading the comps properly for a specific market is exactly what a good local agent does before you write an offer.