How to Value Your Home (Without Zillow)

How much is my house worth?

What is the estimated value of my home?

How to estimate home value?

How to find the value of property?

What is the estimated market value of my home?

What is the assessed value of a home?

How does Zillow estimate home value?

Are Zillow home value estimates accurate?

How to calculate market value of property?

How to value a house for probate?

How much is my land worth?

5 Top Online Home Valuation Tools

How much is my house worth?

Estimating your home value could require quite a bit of research from your end as you will need to understand the property market in your area and to wage your best estimate of what your house is worth. Normally, this is a task that can be taken on by a real estate agent, but that does not mean that you will be unable to form an accurate estimate of your house’s value on your own. When trying to value the price of your house and to understand how much it is that your house is worth remembering that a number of factors, including the square footage, area, the year it was built, the housing market, will all affect how much your house is worth.

What is the estimated value of my home?

The estimated house value that your real estate agent may provide you with, or the one that you can come up with on your own, is an estimation of how much your home should be able to sell for in the current market. This estimation may not always be completely accurate, this means that depending on the economic situation and the housing market when you are trying to sell you may end up selling for more or less than what that estimated house value was. To find the estimated value of your home you can also use a property value estimator so as to get a better idea of what you may potentially be able to sell your home for.

How to estimate home value?

To estimate your home value, you will need to research the value of houses in your area. This will be the biggest indication of not only what your house is worth, but more importantly of what you can price the house at based on the current market value. To estimate the value of the house you will need to follow the steps outlined below.

1. Research houses in your area and how much they sell for in terms of square footage

2. Look at the housing trends in pricing in your area over the past few months

3. Consider how much houses with similar amenities to yours go for in your area

4. If you need assistance use an online property value calculator

How to find the value of a property?

One of the easiest ways to find the value of a house is through using an online property valuation calculator. This calculator will give you an estimate of what the house should be worth. If you want an even more accurate house value estimate you can get a comparative market analysis. Comparative market analysis is usually completed by a broker, or a real estate agent and they include hours of research so as to determine what the best possible estimation for your home’s value will be. You may also have the option to get someone to visit the property and give you an appraisal for the house, this may be the most accurate valuation of a property that you can get. Finally, if you so wish you can independently undertake the task of researching the area and determining the value of the property on your own, but this can be a task that will take quite a long time and the results may not always be accurate.

What is the estimated market value of my home?

The estimated market value of your house is the value that your house should be able to get if you sell it based on the current real estate market in your area. If houses in your local area have been going for a higher price, then your estimated market value for your house will also be higher than it may have normally been. The estimated market value can be a great way of determining how much your home is worth, especially considering that any house is in reality worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it. The estimated market value is the closest estimation that a house can have to what the actual potential for selling the property may be, as it is based on other sales that have been completed in the area. The one problem with the estimated market value of a house is that sometimes it can also be inaccurate as your home may not be designed in a style that is following current trends, and as such that may make the property less desirable. Still, knowing the market value for a property can be a useful tool when deciding what to price your house.

What is the assessed value of a home?

The assessed value of a home is the assessment of the value of a house that is used to determine the property taxes required for each home. However, there are cases where a house may be eligible for exemptions based on the type of home that it is. This valuation is often very important as properties with high property taxes may be less desirable to potential buyers.

How does Zillow estimate home value?

The Zillow house value tool commonly referred to as the Zestimate is a tool that uses general data that are available about properties in your area to assess and estimate what your house value would be. Because the tool depends on publicly available information on the sale prices in your area, the square footage, and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms of houses in your area, it can often have inaccurate results if there is a lack of information about houses in your area. In essence, the way the Zillow estimate home value tool works are similar to the way researching the property values in your area would work. Zillow gets access to all widely available information and compares them, based on the results of that comparison it can provide you with a house estimate for your property.

Are Zillow home value estimates accurate?

Zillow home value estimates can be accurate if there is a lot of information available online on your area and the properties that have been put up for sale there in the past few months. Essentially, because Zillow only collects publicly available information the results that it provides may not always be accurate. This is especially true in cases where the housing market in your area has not had a lot of movement, or information on the sales that took place cannot be found online. In general, when looking at a home’s value on Zillow it is always best to remember that there can be a margin of error if the information available to Zillow are limited.

How to calculate market value of property?

Calculating the market value of your property may take a bit of effort on your part as it will need a bit of research and a bit of mathematical analysis. Still, once you understand the basics of how it works it should be a simpler procedure than what you may have originally thought.

1. Property Features

For most people when they hear the word features, the thought of luxuries may come up, but, for home its features include the year of construction, the number of bathrooms and bedrooms, square feet, whether it has a garage and the size of the garage, the roof type, the floor type, the counters, the backyard if it has a pool, a hot tub or a fireplace. Essentially, all these are featuring that any potential buyer would want to know as they would consider whether this house is the right fit for them.

2. Comparison

This is where you will need to research and see if there are any similar properties in your area that have been sold in the past 6 months. These will give you an idea of what the value of houses similar to yours in your area will be. You will also want to make sure that you are looking at the sale price and not the listing price when you are comparing these properties.

3. Adjustments

While there may be properties in your area that are comparable to yours, the chances are that they will not be identical. This means that you may need to make some adjustments. For example, if your property is newer, you may be able to sell for a bit more, while if it is older you may need to sell for a bit less. The price of the adjustments will depend on your area, as certain features are worth more or less based on where you are. Once you have calculated the price of the adjustments you can calculate an estimation of the house value.

4. Averaging

Once you have the sale prices for all the houses, you can add them up and then divide them to get the average price. That average price is your estimated market value, and it is the price that you may potentially be able to list your house for.

How to value a house for probate?

Valuing a house for probate is fairly similar to getting an estimated market value for the house. Essentially, the value of a house for probate is the price that the house would be able to sell for if it was put on the market. The same criteria that apply for normal house valuations apply for valuing a house for probate, which means that there is a chance that you could use a valuation service to estimate what the value of the house will be. If you use a real estate agent for this, make sure that the price they are presenting you is not the inflated listing price but rather the price that they would expect to sell the property for if it was put on the market for sale.

How much is my land worth?

Valuing land that is unimproved can oftentimes be harder than valuing a house or a commercial property. While the traditional way of having house valuations may be able to be used for valuing land the results given may not always be accurate. The main reason for this is that while house sales are frequent and a large volume of information exists online regarding the value of residential or commercial properties, the sale of land is much more infrequent. This means that at times there may be no other comparable lot that has been sold in the area for quite some time.

Another way of valuing land is only relevant for land that is producing an income for its owner. If for example a piece of land is used for crops, then the valuation of that land will be higher based on the income that it produces for its owner. Once again, this makes valuing land harder, and it is hard to make an accurate estimation of what the actual value of the land is. Finally, some land is valued based on the price of the investment that would be required to build a home or a commercial building on the lot. Again, this is not an accurate way of valuing land as it is completely unique to each case. Therefore, a comparison of all three approaches is the best way of estimating the value of land in any given area.

Finding the correct valuation for your house can be a hard thing. Often you may need professionals to assist you in valuing your home, while others may be able to value your home on your own. In any case, it is important that the features, area, and market prices for other properties in your area are all taken into consideration when estimating a home’s value.

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5 Top Online Home Valuation Tools

1. Zillow

Zillow offers perhaps the most popular home valuation tool and, in most cases, it is a tool that can provide relatively accurate estimations. The site and app are both easy to use and in general because they are so widely used the service has many houses to match up against yours. Still, depending on your area Zillow may not have as much data available, and as such their estimations may be off by a lot.

2. Redfin

Redfin is perhaps Zillow’s biggest competitor and for good reason. Their tool allows you to see an overview of other listings in your area that sold or were rented out. It can also show you photos and listing information for listings that are comparable to yours. In general, their valuation services are considered very accurate, but because the website is not as widely used as Zillow, it can sometimes lack data availability.

3. Realtor.com

The My Home tool is a great tool for those who want to try another free valuation website. While in some cases the valuation provided can be accurate, other cases have been noted where the estimates are widely off. However, what makes this offer unique is that they offer you the option to see other houses in your area that are comparable to yours in terms of pricing. This can truly be a game-changer to pricing your home.

4. Eppraisal

Eppraisal mostly uses public records on homes that have recently been sold in your area to create its estimate. For this reason, it has often been known to give estimations that are wide of. Still, there are benefits to using this tool as it also provides you with demographic data about the neighborhood which you can use to market your home properly.

5. Chase Bank Mortgage Service

The Chase Bank Mortgage Service department offers a home valuation tool that can provide you with an estimated property value. Because of the way their service works it won’t provide you with photos or information on properties in the ways other services will. However, what it will give you is a fairly accurate estimate for the price of your home as well as information on homes sold recently in your area.