Are you thinking of refinancing, selling, or making home improvements to your home?
Then knowing the value of your home is important.
There are many automated estimators online. They use public record data within a radius of the home and an algorithm to create a value. This automated system includes sites like Zillow, RPR and Collateral Analytics. But, why do these online resources produce different values for the same property? These estimators can provide a range of possible home values for your property. They may be a good starting point, but have drawbacks as well.
Automated estimators have a few faults in their system:
- These estimators do not consider factors such as the condition of the home, improvements made to the property, school district, neighborhood factors and property tax differences that can significantly impact the home’s value.
- Most of the estimators use a set radius of the address. If the property is a farm, a luxury home or a unique property, the radius may not be sufficient to find similar properties sold.
- The estimators use public record data. Some areas have better records than others. However, public records can be skewed. Some use $1 as the value when a family member transfers a property to another family member. Others only reflect the transfer price of the land value after a home is built or don’t consider home renovations.
All of this results in both inaccurate data as well as the possibility of not selecting the best comparable properties for valuing the home.
To get a more accurate value for your home work with a real estate professional. When Team Longenecker provides an evaluation we do the following:
- Personally inspect the property and neighborhood.
- Have access to MLS Data and Market analysis tools to determine the most accurate valuation for your property.
- Examine the prices of recently sold properties, recently expired and/or withdrawn properties and other similar homes currently on the market.
All of this allows us to provide you with a more precise evaluation of your home. Having the best information available will result in the best outcome as it allows you to make a truly informed decision.