24 Jun 08 
Can Homebuyers Trust Online Real Estate Valuators?
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As more and more homebuyers turn to the Internet to help them in their search for their next home, many have stumbled upon home valuator websites such as Zillow.com and Cyberhomes.com. The premise of these websites is simple – they allow the user to enter an address and a computer generated value is then outputted. While these services are designed to aid homebuyers when researching a prospective home, problems have continuously arisen with inaccurate values being taken far too seriously by users.
The San Francisco Chronicle recently did a report on the accuracy of these types of websites. They reported that the percentage of errors on home estimates from such websites is still very large. After reading the story, I decided to enter my home address into both Zillow.com and Cyberhomes.com.
Zillow.com estimated my home to be worth $478,500, while Cyberhomes.com estimated my home to be worth $514,701. Zillow.com told me that my home is 1,833 square feet, 3-bed, 2-bath, on a 17,056 square foot lot; Cyberhomes.com didn’t know how many bedrooms there were, stated my home to be 2,090 square feet, with 2 bathrooms, on a 22,220 square foot lot. In reality, my home is 2,200 square feet, 4-bed, 3-bath, and to be honest I do not know the actual lot size or its current market value.
These particular discrepancies can be very misleading for a potential buyer, should I ever decide to sell. I am willing to bet that discrepancies exist in the majority of home valuations created by these sites, especially for users that do not have comparable sales in the area of the home they are researching.
The truth is… a home is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it, and in today’s market I wouldn’t suggest anyone base their asking price on the estimation of a website using computer generated figures. For a true valuation of your home, I strongly recommend hiring a professional home inspector to conduct a walkthrough inspection of your house and then a professional appraiser. I also suggest that you compare your home to those of homes in your neighborhood that are currently listed, or have recently sold.
Curious to see how far off Internet home valuator websites are on your home? I am! If you have the time, let us and our readers know!
Tags: cyberhomes.com, home estimates, home inspection, home valuator, home values, homebuyers, house value, market value, the san francisco chronicle, zillow.com
