Why You Can’t Trust an Online Home Value

Hammond Property Group Video Blog with Brian Hammond

How accurate are home values found on popular real estate websites? I’ll answer that for you today.

If you’re like me, you’ve probably played around on some real estate websites to look at the value of your home and others. However, you can’t always count on the accuracy of those values.

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is "How accurate are these home sites when determining the value of my home?".

First, it's important to understand that a lot of information goes into calculating these numbers, from both public and private sources. The accuracy of these numbers is also entirely dependent on what state and municipality you happen to be inquiring about.

Well, I recently did some research and found that in Davidson County, 68% of homes closed within 10% of a popular website’s predicted values. That means if your home value was shown as $300,000 on the site, there is a 33% chance that it will sell anywhere from $270,000 to $330,000. If an agent gave you that kind of range, you would probably question their professionalism. Keep in mind that means over 33% of homes closed outside of that 10% margin, meaning the ranges were even more outrageous.

...if you want the facts and the true value of your home, call a real estate agent.

Let me put it this way, if you were sick or had some sort of physical ailment, you might turn to the Internet to get an idea of what’s going on. However, you wouldn’t trust your actual care to a website; you’d go to a doctor.

Similarly, a website might give you some sort of idea of what your home is worth, but if you want the facts and the true value of your home, call a real estate agent.

If you have any questions about this topic, are looking to buy or sell a home, or if you have any other real estate questions, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!