When Selling Miami Beach Real Estate Is Online Technology Friend or Fo
If you are thinking about selling Miami Beach real estate, just know that I am not going to tell you, “don’t use those big name websites”. I can probably assure you that after you use our team, you won’t need to. At least that is what I find with our clients after they see the data that we provide.
Next, I don’t have an issue with my clients using the sites as long as they understand to use them as a starting point. In fact, if you are in the market to sell or buy real estate and you are searching online, they make it impossible for you not to use them. It’s like candy in a candy store for sellers and buyers. These companies have spent millions of dollars to draw you in, they know the deal, they know what you like, and they are going to give it to you.
It’s also important to note that a lot of the data online is very general until you get down to a super hyper-local search and point of view.
My two biggest sources of angst with these sites are explaining the Home Values and Outdated Property Listings. Now I am going to talk about Home Values.
Selling Miami Beach real estate and online home values
I want to acknowledge that we also offer a “quick computer generated” home value online. However, we also disclose over and again about how the information should be used and that the information is “general”.
Meaning don’t use it to make big real estate decisions.
The system we use gives a broad range of pricing. Out of many of the products I researched online, I found it to be pretty decent, however it’s still a computer generated model, and it’s still a wide range of pricing at that. It will never be as good as me visiting the property in person, noting all of the details of the property, viewing comparable properties recently sold, just on the market listings and providing a professional comparable market analysis by hand.
If someone is looking for a reliable home value, a professional needs to visit the property in person.
For the big online websites, just keep in a mind a computer cannot know the specifics of a particular building, the unit’s line, view, upgrades and other relevant details that affect the value. In fact in Miami Beach there are many different price points and values. There can be a building that houses $4 million dollar units right next to a building with $300,000 units. If the system aggregates data altogether (and most do), it will not be accurate.
To me average/median values and the aggregation of this data is the biggest problem when it comes to home values using these online sites.
Let me show you a good example.
In South of Fifth over the past six months of closed data, if I pull the average closed sales of a two bedroom units it is: $840,371
If I keep the data the same and just add in “waterfront” as a criteria, the average is: $1,017,582
Still the same data but now building specific: $2,515,000
Look at the difference from the starting point. It’s huge!
If you are a seller you could be leaving a lot of money on the table and if you are a buyer you may be really undereducated about the market. Now, I have seen the sites both higher and lower on pricing so it goes both ways. Regardless, typically they are not so accurate.
I just researched the accuracy level of one of the most popular sites for Miami and their accuracy level for Miami is rated as two out of four stars. The website stated an 8.7% median accuracy and just above “not able to compute”. Now, on a lower price point 8.7% may not be a big deal. On our typical transaction starting from $1 million, that’s $87,000. That’s a huge difference and a lot of money.
In addition, the average list to sales price is usually less than 5% on average. So 8.7% is a crazy number to be off.
The takeaway
Using those big online websites is a good starting point (if you must), but I wouldn’t recommend making huge real estate decisions based on these models. Rather seek a more local approach so the data is more relevant and to make sure you aren’t leaving money on the table.
The compilation of listing and market data information is provided by our local MLS system Miami Association of REALTOR(R) ®s. All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. I am human and errors can occur, if you note something off, let me know so I can check into it.
Do you have questions about selling or buying real estate?
Call me today at 305-793-8965. We realize that you may not be ready to buy or sell today and are probably in the planning stages. That's just fine. Many of our clients are several months out from doing anything and that is why we take a simple, no pressure approach when working with new clients. Of course if you are ready to buy or sell quickly, we can help with that too.
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