Yesterday, Realty Thoughts launched eppraisal.com, it's online home valuation tool even as Zillow comes under heavy fire (legitimate or not) over not only the accuracy of its zestimates, but the larger (more headline-driven) question of whether those zestimates are artificially lower in certain neighborhoods.

Others have written in-depth about Zillow's troubles with the NCRC so I won't re-hash the discussion here. Likewise, I won't speculate about whether eppraisals.com will find themselves with similar troubles down the line (though, since the pockets most likely are less deep at Realty Thoughts, they may not be as attractive a target.)

Rather, let's look at this new platform (which amazingly launched without major comment from the real estate blogging world.) There are some stylistic differences between the two platforms, a gap which could close in time: eppraisals.com is slooooooooow but it's in its Beta phase, and the valuation comes without many of the bells and whistles Zillow has added. But most notable, eppraisals.com doesn't provide a single-figure estimate but rather a valuation range (which should make Broker Bryant smile.)

I entered my own home into Zillow a few minutes ago and received a zestimate of $290,954. Remarkably precise for an estimating tool. And, actually, not too far off the mark. We'll take it.

I then entered my house into eppraisals and was greeted with a range of $312,340 to $383,790.

(pausing to blink, rub my eyes and look again)

A range of $312,340 to $383,790. Yep, it still says so.

Wow.

My house isn't an unzillowable though maybe it's an uneppraisable (trademark pending, before sellsius beats me to it.) And the range still is nowhere close to the real value of my home. And most importantly, it's nowhere close to the market value of my home.

Sometimes both we and the public at large get so wrapped up in appraisal values and valuation estimates that we lose track of the fact that real estate is based in a free-market economy where supply and demand influence value - maybe not to the same extent as in other arenas, but there's an effect nevertheless.

It's this effect that makes zestimates and eppraisals (and actual appraisals) largely moot when buying or selling a home, especially in a hot buyers' market. Zillow and eppraisals are chasing unicorns, searching for a specific ideal (the "true" value of a home) which doesn't actually exist and has no practical use in reality. And a true value does not exist - we always say bring three agents and you'll have three valuations, but the same easily can happen with our brethren in the appraisal business.

Everyone needs to remember the basic tenet of a free market - a home is worth only what someone else is willing to pay for it. Otherwise it's a paper gain (or loss), no more and no less.