It’s been ten years since the real estate bubble burst. Nowadays, most homeowners are enjoying the increase that housing prices have seen. Steadily, median prices of existing homes have continued to climb. And they show no signs of stopping anytime soon.
Whether you’re looking to buy or sell a home in the near future, or even just want to track your current home’s worth, there are a number of tools available to determine market value. With prices at historic highs, I thought this would be a great time to list the many online sites you can use to monitor and track growth over time.
Table of Contents:
The 10 Best Home Appraisal Sites
Of course, the most recognized option here is Zillow.com. However, there are several alternatives. Many of these (in my experience) provide a more accurate value than Zillow.
In addition to the list that follows, I’ve decided to use a few controls. I’ve run my childhood home through each appraisal website. The home is a four-bedroom, two-bath, single-family home. I am reasonably confident the home is worth about $130,000.
In addition, I’ve also run through a rental property that I own in Temple, Texas, to see if the results measure up on both. The rental property is newer (built in 2004) but has three bedrooms and two baths. I think the home would probably sell for about $160,000 right now. This is on par with what the county assessed it at this past May.
Let’s see how each appraisal website valued the homes.
1. Zillow
Zillow is the behemoth of free home value websites and scores a 10 for both the fun factor and name recognition.
They have an excellent app, which you can use to browse homes (for rent or sale), as well as manage your own listings. I rented my property out in February using their Rental Manager app, and found it incredibly easy to use. Plus, it was free!
The navigation on their site (and app) is easy for anyone to use. You can view property values for an entire neighborhood, seeing at a glance how your home compares to the neighbors’. Even if homes aren’t listed for sale or rent. If you’re looking to buy, this is also a great way to see what’s available in a particular area and how the prices compare.
Zillow is also pretty good with home prices, too. It came in pretty high on the value of my childhood home (value shown: $150,189), but only valued my rental property about 6% higher than it would likely sell for (value shown: $169,485).
Resource: Check mortgage and refinance rates online at LendingTree.
2. Redfin
Redfin is a popular alternative to Zillow, with a few features of its own online.
The site offers an overview of other homes in the area that are for sale or rent, though it doesn’t have the same comprehensive view that Zillow does.
Redfin does have its own agents. So you have the option to list through the site directly without having to find your own representative. Redfin also offers discounted commissions for those listing with their agents. And it has a calculator on the site so you can see how much you would save.
If you’re looking to buy, you can book a tour of the home directly through the site, picking your preferred day and time from an available calendar. This is better than I’ve found with sites like Zillow, where you can send a message to the agent but may or may not get a response in a timely fashion.
For my childhood home, the value was spot-on with Zillow’s (value: $150,426), but they were unable to give me any data on the rental property (value: unknown). I found this to be a bit surprising, as most sites can at least pull up “last sold” information to provide an estimate. However, since Redfin operates as a brokerage, they use MLS data to determine the values shown… meaning that they may be more accurate in their numbers than other house-hunting websites.
3. Trulia
Trulia is a great place to find values of homes near you, though, if you’re like me, you may have trouble finding values for your own home.
I searched Trulia for both houses–childhood and rental–and was told that I needed to contact them for an estimate. This seemed like more trouble than it was worth and deterred me from using the site to its fullest potential. (values: unknown)
However, it did offer a number of other features I found helpful.
The site has a nice Affordability calculator, which was much more helpful than the standard “mortgage estimator” most sites offer. It included not only mortgage principal and interest, but also HOA fees, homeowner’s insurance, and even property taxes.
As with other sites, it included nearby properties—sold and currently listed—as well as a neat “Crime Near Me” thread. This showed reported crimes near this property, so I can see exactly what kind of neighborhood I would be moving into.
4. Realtor.com
This site may sound like it would be full of ads and realtors clambering for your commission, but it’s actually a great resource for checking the specs of your home.
The values I received were a bit closer to what I expected for my childhood home (value: $135,400) but my rental property was estimated much higher than on the other sites (value: $174,800). I’m not sure exactly what to make of that, since they were both outliers in opposite directions. But it’s good to have yet another number for comparison.
One neat feature of the site is the ability to view homes in the same price range. There’s a slider for viewing the typical “other homes in this area” group, but there’s also one that takes your home’s estimated value and shows you others in the area at the same price point. This way, you can really compare apples to apples.
5. RE/MAX
RE/MAX is another good source for home values and information, as well as connecting you with a broker if needed. It also provides you with neighborhood schools (in addition to their ratings), nearby homes for sale, and area demographics.
This was a very useful tool, especially as a parent who always wonders how local schools measure up.
I wasn’t able to access photos of either of the properties I searched, even though I had found them on almost all of the other sites I searched.
The value for my childhood home was a bit lower than I had expected (value: $126,755), and the rental property value was higher than expected (value: $176,624). So, again, I’m not sure I would base my valuation of either home solely on the RE/MAX results. But it is helpful to have when evaluating the bigger picture.
6. Eppraisal
Eppraisal, in addition to home values, provides demographic data about the neighborhood, including education, finance, and employment statistics. They also include home values from other sites to use as a comparison (such as those on Zillow).
I was shocked that they estimated my childhood home as being worth 28% less than Zillow had (value: $108,376). They also valued my rental property 19% less than Zillow (value: 137,888)– and 14% less than even my county’s tax assessor-collector had! That says a lot to me, so I would definitely take Eppraisal’s values with a large grain of salt.
7. Chase Bank Mortgage Services
I was really surprised to learn that Chase Bank has its own home value tool through its Mortgage Services department. Simply enter your home’s address to get a calculated value estimate of the property.
Of course, this site doesn’t offer much information on properties and doesn’t provide any photos. However, it does offer a value range that you could expect for the property, as well as neighboring home values.
For my childhood home, the estimate was between $111,350 – $150,650. On my rental property, it was a pretty wide range at $146,850 – $183,150. My expected market values are perfectly in the middle of both ranges. I would venture to say it’s pretty accurate (if not very precise).
8. CyberHomes
CyberHomes is a no-nonsense home valuation tool. For the homes I’ve searched, it provided reasonably accurate values and provides much of the same demographic data that the other websites offer.
It did, however, require me to create an account before I was able to access any information. This may or may not open you up to spam, mailing lists, or solicitations–as a general rule, I try to avoid giving out my email address whenever possible.
9. Property Shark
Property Shark’s database is very limited, though I was able to find both properties. I couldn’t access the “full report,” but I did see specs on each home as well as county tax assessments and values.
10. Real Estate ABC
Upon first visiting the site, my impression was that it was outdated and a little spammy-looking. However, after entering my information, I found it to be pretty helpful, though.
The values of each property are actually pulled from Zillow (Zestimates), so that part is redundant if you’re value-hunting. However, Real Estate ABC does offer some things that Zillow does not. (values: same as Zillow)
For instance, after searching for your property, you’ll be shown a lengthy list of comps from other homes that have sold in the area. These are broken down by number of bedrooms, square footage, date built, and sales history. This is great to have at a glance, without having to click on individual listings to see how they really compare to yours.
Real Estate ABC also offers a mortgage finder, if you’re looking to buy. The ticker shows the day’s current rates from each lender and exactly how that would break down for you in terms of monthly payment, including points.
Bonus: Rentometer
Rentometer doesn’t provide the value of the home, but it provides the estimated rent one would pay to rent the home. This is a good resource to have, so I’ve included here.
Rentometer has been hit or miss in my experience. But the rental value it assigned to my childhood home is very accurate. (Rental value: $1,050/month)
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This is an awesome list! I have been using Zilow and thought it’s a bit high. I will recheck my home value today. Thank you.
Great list of sites. However, in North Kingstown, RI, none of them work out even close. I have done a great deal of analysis on my property because I want to sell. All of these sites give numbers that are way high! Several of them seem to put a lot of weight on $ per square foot. That calculation is really not worth much for a number of reasons (e.g. amount of land). They do work in areas where the houses are very similar (e.g. Plano, TX).
So far, I find the most reasonable approach is to look at the ratio of actual sales price to assessed value. You do have to look at houses that have sold in your general price range, living area and lot size.
My bigger (much) problem/question is how do I choose the right agent to sell the house?
Any thoughts?
Al
The best agent is yourself just take 3 classes at your local community college and then take the exam so you can keep the commissions as well as look out for your best interests.
I have a couple thoughts on finding a great agent. The first place to start is with referrals. Find friends or family who have used an agent with success and schedule an appointment to meet with them. Second, some agents specialize in certain communities or developments. I know where I live near Washington, D.C. there are a few agents that have a lot of experience in my development of about 1,500 homes. They should have a very good idea of what your home is worth, AND, they will have seen many of the homes in your community by way of comparison. Finally, you do have to consider whether to sell the home without a realtor. I’m not recommending that approach, because I think it’s a decision each homeowner has to make on there own. That said, I own four single family rental homes that I bought without an agent and will eventually sell them without an agent.
Best of luck with the sale.
A couple of comments. If you’re buying, then it is relatively easy to get comments about realtors from friends/associates. However, if you’re selling, most of the references (good and bad) have moved to somewhere else. Also, it is relatively easy when you’re talking relatively homogeneous development areas with like types of houses. An example, our daughter and family lived in the plano, TX area – all of the houses are almost cookie cutter, with some differences of living area – easy to value.
Here in RI, it is a different story – every house is fifferent. The area we live in has 234 homes and the prices vary from $190,000 to $1,100,000 and there is only some rhyme or reason.
In this market, I really don’t think FSBO is a viable option.
I certainly would appreciate any additional comments.
I noticed that none of them work in Michigan.
I used to have Real quest and they promised a lot they could not deliver.
Finding comps in Michigan is real hard.
I resorted to looking at the Realtor listings and knocking 15-20% off of the price to get a reasonable apraisal.
It seems that not even tax values are recorded in Michigan.
Arthur, that’s odd. I wonder why they have so much trouble with estimates in Michigan. In Ohio, the estimates are reasonably accurate. In Virginia, it can by hit or miss.
Nice information – Thought provoking comments also!
An interesting comparison. I live in New Mexico, which is a non-disclosure state, so these programs really have to scramble hard to get comps. I bought my house 6 months ago, and the market went up and back down since then, with a real-life appraisal done a couple weeks ago telling me it’s worth maybe 1-2% more than I paid for it, based on the most recent comps. So, the results?
Zillow knew that it had sold, but not the sales price, and gave me a value about 15% higher than appraisal.
R.E. ABC knew that it had sold, but gave no opinion of the value.
Eppraisal gave a range from 1% below the sales price, to 33% over it, and did not appear to know about the sale.
Reply.com was about 40% below value (!) I asked it for comps, and it gave me a list of its own rendered values for every house within 3 blocks, but had no comparable sales data. Suffice it to say it did not have the subject sale.
HomeGain had a range from 20% – 10% below the sales price, and did not have the previous sale.
Cyberhomes was most interesting for me. They had a spot value, 1% over sales price, within rounding error of the mortgage company’s appraiser. They did not appear to have the previous sale, and when I asked for comps, they ranged about 10 miles away, and several hundred thousand dollars apart, so it’s difficult to see how they got a value so close to the sales price and the appraisal. If they got the MLS record, the comps should have been better. Maybe the mortgage company is selling their appraisal data?
Property Shark – doesn’t cover this area. bummer.
HouseFront – Crazy. They know when I bought the house, but they think I paid 25% higher than I did. Then, they think the current value is 10% lower.
So, all in all, less than satisfactory in a non-disclosure state. And the thing is, MLS listing data is available to the public here, so there’s no excuse for the sites not knowing the square footage, room count, age, and other details, for properties that have been listed. Plus, with the list price, you might have a better handle on values, even without knowing the sales price.
Thank you for a very informative article.
While some of these sites are great for getting statistics and general information about a home, the values given are incredibly innacurate most of the time. If you really want an accurate picture of your homes value it makes a lot more sense to ask a well respected Realtor that knows the community, neighborhood, and Real Estate values well.
Hopkinton, I agree. I think the websites provide good information, and I’ve found some to be more accurate than others, but nothing can replace a thorough knowledge of the specific market.
I like the post – I use most of them in my net worth statement monthly. I know none of them are completely accurate, but I take 6 of them (housefront is one I haven’t used before but might throw it into the mix) and take the average of all of them to find my value. It is actually pretty close, and gives me a sense of value in the huge debt I’ve put myself in with the house… 🙂
I use Zillow on a reagular basis, but have not tried a few of the others you have listed. I will give them a try.
Thanks,
I keep track of Zillow and although the absolute numbers are not meaningful, the direction the prices are moving do make sense. It is easier to understand that my house has lost 20% value than to say that Zillow can accurately predict the selling price with any precision.
Is anyone here aware that most real estate agents are actually willing to assess your house and give you a free property estimate? Too many people are just looking for a quick answer, but if you’re considering selling your home, you really need to work with a local real estate agent. There’s no doubt about it.
Today I launched EstiMike – another tool for estimating the price of a home. EstiMike is designed to complement other great sites like Zillow: not only does EstiMike provide you an estimate, it also explains exactly how the estimate is produced. Try it and let us know what you think of the service!
There really is no substitute for having a good Realtor pour over the numbers and provide the price based on current market conditions. While the sites mentioned can be used by consumers as a guide, they should be only that.
I did a check on Estimike which is listed by Greg Glockner above, another tool for estimating the price of a home can not be found.
Good Blog. We use a lot of the resources posted.
thanks
Ron
None of these sites accurately project correct home values AT ALL. They are a hindrance to home buyers and sellers because they give either an inaccurate view of value to which the buyer and seller hold. Don’t rely upon these sites to value your home. The best way to value a home is to have it appraised. And even then, appraisers make mistakes.
While it is smart to get information from as many sources as practically possible, the websites mentioned may be too ambitious for determining value of a home. I agree that appraisers are the best way to determine a home’s value. Great article, I didn’t know some of these services until you wrote about them.. Thanks!
Homing In will give a more accurate value than all of the other sites. They use actual real estate agents, so you have to make sure you take photos and also be patient, because it may take a day or two to get responses.
With all due respect…..as someone who has been in the lending business and a real estate investor for over 30+ years……these websites ARE the problem. I get so many “buyers” who THINK they know a homes value simply by going to these websites and plugging in an address. All these do is give an “estimate”….with NO/ZERO attention to……location, condition, upgrades, premium lots, WHY!!! are they selling(death, moving, distress, etc.)…..one MUST factor in these items…..AND….is the case in my area right now(04/2017)…..properties are selling OVER asking….with multiple offers on each!!! Our “supply”(another biggie issue!!!!) is so low…..everyone is grasping at homes….kinda like going to the market before a snow storm……..same/same!!!! So…..in a nutshell…..ALL these factors determine what the TRUE value is…..and not what it SHOULD be. Happy house hunting!!!
Also….to NEW/ANY buyer(s)……PLEASE sit down with a great loan officer BEFORE going window shopping……I just put a home on the market…..and received a full price offer in 1 hour!!!…Unfortunately……it subject to financing….and after going to the public county records….they had judgments against them……..THAT’S doing your homework….on the sales side….
Sounds like these sites are leaving you without business. Maybe you should step your game up! this isnt the 80s anymore
Why are Zillow.com property value estimates always so much higher than Realtor.com? I checked my own property value, as well as several of my friends. In every case Zillow’s estimate was at least $30,000 higher. I can only conclude that Zillow uses their (unrealistic) values as a subliminal tactic to attract unsuspecting sellers. Sounds like something right out of the “playbook” of the con artist who defiled the White House and disgraced America in the previous 8 years of office. You know, tell them what they want to hear….like “you can keep your on doctor”.
Amen. Couldn’t agree more.
“Awaiting moderation”? Am I supposed to guess what you mean by that? Was it not politically correct? Politically correct: A term behind which hide those cowardly individuals who are afraid to speak the truth, or say what is really on their minds, for fear of offending some individual, or group of individuals, who for the most part spend their time looking for ways in which to be offended; when they are not out getting paid to protest issues about which they haven’t a clue, or are looking for a free lunch. Moderate that!
CyberHomes WAS one of the best house-searching sites EVER. CyberHomes got bought out by some other firm late 2010 or early 2011 and has been gone forever since then. I miss Cyberhomes.
I know, this is an old post.
A LOT OF HATING WOW!!!! This was a great article to read and I thank you. For those who think they are so Realtor savy GET REAL!! We live in a new age of buying/selling and NOTHING in this world is accurate and this article SAYS IT MANY TIMES!!! You live in a bubble if anyone believes that 1 thing in this world is 100 percent legitimate….Look at our Government 😁😂😀
Hi,
How do you estimate the resale value of an architect design
house when you sell it to the homeowner? What criteria do you usually tell him/her that the
house is selling more than the non-architect house? If yes. Is there are any specific examples you are aware of
that I can investigate to see if the greater value meets or exceeds the 10-15% fee architects
typically charge.