Hi Adarrin-
Great question...You are on the right track with Cyberhomes. After you put in your address you’ll notice Cyberhomes returns the property with price, physical characteristics, neighborhood and economic stats, and other useful real estate related information.
Now this is where you can take the estimate further by adding your knowledge of the property and local area. Click on the “Change Home Valueâ€to the right of the estimated price. You now have 4 steps to complete. Start by looking at the Basic Facts, are they correct? If anything needs to be adjusted, please do so now. Then click on “Home Improvements†tab. This tab is where you would include any home improvements to the property. Also make sure to set the timeframe, so Cyberhomes can perform a cost factor of money adjustment over time. Next move to the “Comparables†tab. Here you can select the comparable properties you think match your property best. Sort the list by sale data, lot size and living area. Once you’ve finished selecting comparables, move onto the “Market and Home Conditionsâ€. Answer these questions relative to the comparable homes you’ve selected.
Cyberhomes is now presenting both the original estimate and the refined estimate for your records.
Also I see you are an investor; I would review the market fundamentals we include into the neighborhood pages of your community as well. Best of luck to you!!
I'm with David here. The sites you mention can all be handy tools, but to find an accurate valuation of what a property is worth, you'll need to do some work or have someone do it for you. It is a learned skill to determine the value of a property and many people who do it for a living still do it wrong.
I would never go on what any of the websites say alone. You're just asking for problems. Get out there and learn to do a CMA or hire a trained appraiser to do it for you.
Before anyone comes in and argues with me, saying that these programs are accurate, I'd urge you to check the disclaimers on their websites. If they were so confident, they wouldn't be warning people that their sites are merely "starting points" and are "NOT appraisals"
These sites are helpful for finding comps, information about homes, and exact locations. I don't trust any of their valuations. I've looked at too many houses in my farm areas and seen too much variation for me to believe their estimates.
Get out and get to know your area. Drive up and down every street. Look at every recent sale and every current listing, at least from the outside. Look at the inside of as many as possible. Call FSBO and for rent signs and discuss the property. Learn where the dividing lines between areas are. These aren't always obvious, and certainly aren't always the same as the neighborhood divisions or major streets.
If you can't just drive to the area, get on a plane and rent a car.
Note that I do believe in the "super crunching" sites like cyberhome and zillow do to try to get their estimates. I don't particular trust BPOs or appraisals much more than I trust these sites. In both cases, the problem is the input. Cyberhome and zillow don't have enough accurate info as input. For instance, in my area, numbers of beds and baths are often incorrect in public records. Basement square footage is inconsistent, and often leads to incorrect values for finished square footage. With appraisals and BPOs, only a few comps go into the calculation. By cherry picking the comps, you can make the appraisal or BPO go anyway you want.
What about MLS access and checking real comps on recent sales and current listings?
I use a mix of Zillow, MLS, and a couple others. For San Bernardino county (California) if you take 90% of the lowest value range on Zillow it seems to be close.
Valuation websites you cited are very helpful. Another site you may want to add to your repoitre is Realquest.
Based on my research, realquest is more accurate than zillow, trulia, etc.
Depending on where you live, some of the bigger title companies (Fidelity, Chicago Title) will provide you with a CMA report for a miniscule fee (.35 cents for comps per property. Otherwise, you may need to get CMA report from a appraiser or real estate agent.
Rather than paying for an appraisal, I would recommend a very experienced local broker since they have better, newer comp information, both sold and asking.