admin | 
05 31st, 2009| 
Recently I called my mortgage company to see about a refinance with all the low interest rates as of late. I was surprised when the representative told me she was checking the value of my home online. Apparently with the values of homes in such a state of flux, mortgage companies have turned to the internet for quick and easy appraisals. Of course this doesn’t apply for purchasing a new home, and I am sure if the value is too close to call they will still get a human appraiser.
I used to think Zillow.com and such was just reading tea leaves. But it appears Wells Fargo believes in it enough to offer refinancing based on this method. And as more and more data is electronic, these methods are bound to get more accurate. If you are interested in finding the value of your home, here are some of the common sites used:
Zillow.com: This is my favorite of the sites. It’s easy to use and has lots of features.
$218,500 estimate of my home.
CyberHomes.com This site slows down my entire computer every time I try to load it. Probably because it tries to load pictures of 800+ homes I don’t care about… Once I do get to the page, some features do not work and it has less info than Zillow
$199,778 estimate of my home.
Eppraisal.com This site gives it’s own estimate and shows you Zillow and CyberHomes as a comparison. Nice site to use as a one-stop for all 3 values.
$175,516 estimate of my home.
RealEstateABC.com This site is a quick and easy way to find the value. Shows you the home value and a list of comparables. Seems like this site gets it’s estimate from Zillow.
$218,500 estimate of my home.
Other Resources
Domania.com This site won’t tell you an exact figure but it will show you comparable sales in your neighborhood.
HomeGain.com This site is similar, also shows you comparables.
RentoMeter.com If your house is an investment property, this tool can help you find it’s rental value.
I am not sure which is most accurate. I think the frequency these sites update is very important to the accuracy. For example, there is a house down the road that sold for quite high. I think this recent sale is causing Zillow’s estimate to be higher as Zillow seems to update more frequently. At the time I purchased my home, Zillow’s estimate was about $5,000 under the official appraisal and sales price making it about 97% accurate in that instance. I’d say that is pretty good not having seen the house or to even know the details of the house.
What have been your experiences with online home value estimators??
