What’s the best app for determining comps?

[Stephen Macknik]

Checking out comps, to set rents or determine a fair purchase price on a property, seems more like an art than a science. Except for matching bedroom and bathroom numbers (parking spots, etc), it's hard to know if two houses are equivalent. Zillow seems particularly bad at establishing comps (it seems to underestimate value by a lot). Dealcheck and Redfin seem better, but they are significantly different from each other. Is there an app that has been actually tested against factual data to determine that it matches against appropriate properties to provide the most valid comp evaluation?

[Mohammed Rahman]

Hey Stephen,

The general consensus among investors is that Redfin and Zillow are fine for a quick first look but neither replaces actual MLS access. If you're serious about comps the most reliable thing you can do is build a relationship with an investor friendly agent who can pull real MLS data for you; that's the same data appraisers use and it's going to be more accurate than anything a consumer app gives you.

For purchase price comps specifically Propstream is probably the most widely used tool among serious investors. It pulls MLS and off market data and gives you a lot of flexibility in how you filter. It's not free but most investors find it worth it.

For rent comps Rentometer and Zillow Rental Manager are decent starting points but again nothing beats knowing your submarket well enough to sanity check what the tools are spitting out - and nobody knows that better than a local agent or broker who's active in the market!