With the abundance of information out there for sellers and buyers, I'm finding that a good Realtor is more important than ever. With companies such as Yahoo! and Zillow offering their online instant estimates of a home's value -- buyers and sellers are filing this away as solid data.
Consider this -- while these companies' valuation software offer some estimates -- they're not factoring in such items as proximity to a busy street, a dump, the neighbor's pre-foreclosure property next door with 10 years of deferred maintenance... These factors make a big difference in a home's value when presented to the market. So, armed with online valuation information sellers may have a preconceived notion that their home is worth more...and an unrepresented buyer may pay too much.
How much weight should the public put on this data? When I ran a on Yahoo a valuation estimate on a property I'm currently marketing I received estimates in a $40,000 range. Now, if we're talking about a home that's in the millions, $40,000 is not necessarily a huge range. However, when we're talking about properties in the $250,000 - $300,000 range -- that's significant.
Curious if my colleagues out there have run into any issues with buyers or sellers who have felt firm about the online data they've received?
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Are you kidding? Yes! I've had problems with this! As a mortgage broker, the appraised value of the home is crucial. People often call to refinance their homes and when they can't get as much cash as they want-- which means my appraisers couldn't get the value that they needed-- they often throw these wacky numbers in my face.
I think those online home value things are just plain harmful. At best, it's lead-generation tool for the sites that provide it.