Home Valuation Estimating Sites Stink

OK, I shouldn’t say they stink, but they can be far from accurate in the state of Texas. Many home buyers, especially the younger crowd, think they can do their own research on home prices. They think they can use the data they have collected to make an offer on a house. What they don’t know can actually hurt them.

This is because Texas is a non-disclosure state. Sold data is not publicly available. Everybody from the CAD to the other sited listed guesses and I don’t know what they base values on.  As you will see below, some of the estimates are close and many are not close at all to market value as determined by using MLS data.

Someone in my office compared different websites to look at home value estimates. Then an actual Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) was done to see what the true market value of homes was done using actual sold data from the MLS. Websites used for estimates were the Travis County Appraisal District CAD, ValueMap, Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia. I can not show addresses for these homes, but here is the data:

So if you are an Austin home buyer or seller, hook up with a qualified real estate agent. If you are a seller, you need to know how to price a home to sell. If you are a home buyer, you need to know what to come in with as a decent offer.