chomerics Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 I am surprised nobody has posted this before, but here is an incredible tool for real estate buyers and speculators. It lists the home, price, what it was bought for, when, an ariel photo and it tracks the home value over a 10 year stretch. It is an incredible resource for anyone who is looking to buy a home. www.zillow.com BTW, here is my old house, the ex has it now Oh well. . . http://www.zillow.com/aerial/DualMapPage.htm?zpid=56129214 BTW, if you look at the west view, you can see me with my dog in the back yard. . .big brother is always watching lol If you want to post your house, just as a warning though, it does have your home address, so if you are leary about posting where you live, don't do it. Now this is going to ruin some productivity today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjcdaman Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Great find!!! Wow! EDIT: OUCH!!! Just checked the house I bought in Wilmington, and according to that site, I paid a pretty penny for it. :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Predicto Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 I don't think there is a homeowner in California that does not have that page bookmarked :laugh: I know I do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 ugh... that is terrible. No data for my neighborhood, and homes have been built here since 2001. Plus the site mis-spells my street name horribly, and no satellite imagery available. :mad: But thanks for posting Chom, worth a shot I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjcdaman Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 I think that site underestimates a home's value. Of course, the two houses I checked they did not have sufficient data so they said the estimate wasn't guaranteed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Just a warning to anyone that is viewing this site. The prices shown are calculated using a combination of previous sales prices (which are likely outdated) and assessed value (which are typically much lower than real value). I looked up my house which i bought less than a year ago, and its pretty close, though about $20k too low. Then i looked up my parents house, which they bought 15 years ago for $200,000. This site has there home valued about $200,000 too low. If you really want to get an idea of the real value of your home, that is, what you could sell it for, call the real estate agent that you bought it through and ask them to run the comps on it. If you want an exact #, hire an appraiser. In NoVa, that'll run you about $350. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjcdaman Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Just a warning to anyone that is viewing this site. The prices shown are calculated using a combination of previous sales prices (which are likely outdated) and assessed value (which are typically much lower than real value).I looked up my house which i bought less than a year ago, and its pretty close, though about $20k too low. Then i looked up my parents house, which they bought 15 years ago for $200,000. This site has there home valued about $200,000 too low. If you really want to get an idea of the real value of your home, that is, what you could sell it for, call the real estate agent that you bought it through and ask them to run the comps on it. If you want an exact #, hire an appraiser. In NoVa, that'll run you about $350. Yeah, thanks to the original poster of this thread. I thought it was really a good find. But then I searched my newly purchased home and it had it 20k below what it's really worth. So needless to say, PB, your post has cheered me up a little bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 ugh... that is terrible. No data for my neighborhood, and homes have been built here since 2001. Plus the site mis-spells my street name horribly, and no satellite imagery available. :mad: But thanks for posting Chom, worth a shot I guess. They also had my townhouse listed as a condo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 If you really want to get an idea of the real value of your home, that is, what you could sell it for, call the real estate agent that you bought it through and ask them to run the comps on it. If you want an exact #, hire an appraiser. In NoVa, that'll run you about $350. Appraisers around here have their heads implanted firmly in their own asses. Especially with regards to new construction... I'm told b/c of some really strange TN laws with regard to appraisals on new construction. It was explained to me once, but didn't make any sense. Anywho... the appraisal on my home when I bought it came in at about $50k less than what it is actually worth. Homes in my neighborhood are selling for $110-$150 per square foot... but mine appraised for $100/square foot because of the selling price I negotiated. (I got a REALLY good deal on my home). Anyways... appraisals in this state are very closely tied to the selling price.. which is pretty much BS. The house next door to mine is listed for $90k more than what I paid for my home... and it has less square footage and is not nearly as nice/well-built. But when that home sells, it will appraise for the selling price. It's really bass-ackwards... and VERY frustrating when you go to sell a home around here. It is very difficult to gauge market price. We sold our own home last August and we had an offer in hand the same day it listed. The appraisal we were working with was way too low. .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twa Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Won't work for commercial property The prices definately are off,they show my nieghbors house at nearly the value of mine....Of course mine has never been sold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Appraisers around here have their heads implanted firmly in their own asses. Especially with regards to new construction... I'm told b/c of some really strange TN laws with regard to appraisals on new construction. It was explained to me once, but didn't make any sense. Anywho... the appraisal on my home when I bought it came in at about $50k less than what it is actually worth. Homes in my neighborhood are selling for $110-$150 per square foot... but mine appraised for $100/square foot because of the selling price I negotiated. (I got a REALLY good deal on my home). Anyways... appraisals in this state are very closely tied to the selling price.. which is pretty much BS. The house next door to mine is listed for $90k more than what I paid for my home... and it has less square footage and is not nearly as nice/well-built. But when that home sells, it will appraise for the selling price. It's really bass-ackwards... and VERY frustrating when you go to sell a home around here. It is very difficult to gauge market price. We sold our own home last August and we had an offer in hand the same day it listed. The appraisal we were working with was way too low. .... Dont know what to tell you Zoon. You may have just run into a crappy appraiser. Not all appraisers are competent, trust me. As a mortgage loan officer, i have run into 1 or 10. Typically, appraisals cant be given a price-per-square-footage type value because the most important aspect of the value of your home is its location, not the house itself. Ever heard of the expression, "buy the worst house on the best block."??? Thats why. There are 2 different ways to determing the value of a house (actually 3, but one relates to how much you could rent it out for, and doesnt apply here). The cost approach to value method is what i think you are referring to, which takes into account the actual cost of the house as a structure. Fannie Mae wont accept this method, so it is pretty much useless. The method that is widely accepted is the Sales Comparison approach, which basically says that the market sets the price, just like everything else in a capitalist society. It looks at what other similar houses have sold for in the area, makes some adjustments for the house itself, and gives you the value. New construction is tough simply due to the fact that the price is set, then the home is built 6 months later. During that 6 months, the value has probably increased, but since all the houses around it are subject to the same problem, getting full value is tough. Until the homes start being sold and bought on a somewhat regular basis, appraisers dont have much to work with. Most appraisers are conservative in this situation because they would never risk THEIR license just so YOU can make some extra money. They just want their $350 and to be done with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Judges Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 I think they valued my home a little low but it was close enough. My neighbors just sold their identicle place for 20K more than Zillow said mine was worth, and I have hard wood floors and cabinet upgrades whereas they have no upgrades. Anyway, thanks for posting Chom! I will definitely be using this in my home search. Edit: I just looked up my folks house in Fairfax city and Zillow's estimate ain't even close. I wish you could get a 5500 square foot house in Fairfax city for $800K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shallow1 Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 I was helping my sister find a house and I used a good real estate website to find the houses for sale, Zillow to get and idea of market comparison, and this site http://local.live.com/ to use the birds eye view (low arial Photos) option when avalible to actually look at the houses. That way you can see if there are high tension lines, train tracks, or if the neibors have 5 cars parked in the front yard. It helps elliminate allot of driving when you can see the property right away.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chomerics Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 I think they valued my home a little low but it was close enough. My neighbors just sold their identicle place for 20K more than Zillow said mine was worth, and I have hard wood floors and cabinet upgrades whereas they have no upgrades. Anyway, thanks for posting Chom! I will definitely be using this in my home search. Edit: I just looked up my folks house in Fairfax city and Zillow's estimate ain't even close. I wish you could get a 5500 square foot house in Fairfax city for $800K. Don't know how accurate the prices are there, but they are pretty close to true value here. What they do is take the average value of home sales in your area, with more weight towards the most recient sales. They base everything on the cost/sq ft. which is a good GENERAL way of doing things. Of course, if your home is upgraded compared to the other homes in the area, yours would be worth more. It is a very good tool for checking out the market in local areas though, and like I said, the range for homes in the Boston area is spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinsbuck Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Zillow is getting some bad press about their values being a bit low. On a side note, most homes outside the beltway, especially 10 miles out, haven't gained much if any equity in the last 6 months. Most peoples homes aren't worth what they think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Judges Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Zillow is getting some bad press about their values being a bit low. On a side note, most homes outside the beltway, especially 10 miles out, haven't gained much if any equity in the last 6 months. Most peoples homes aren't worth what they think. I think you are right. There is some confusion about where the market really is. Some people are in for a rude awakening-particulalry in the outer counties like Loudon and Prince William (I am in Prince William). Some people in Loudon county seem to think their location is as desirable as Fairfax. There was a great article on this in the WP two days ago. It had a chart that showed where the most homes are available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cdowwe Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Wow great find Chom. Just what I needed to distract me during finals week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsNut73 Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 I've seen this site before...and it's pretty accurate in my neck of the woods. I have checked on family in PA, TN and NC and they seem to be off by a larger margin. Though they admit they might not be as accurate in areas where they don't have much data. Just read an article recently that said they plan on adding multiple views of the homes to the site as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fight_on_til_you_have_won Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 All I get is this: We do not support the Safari browser yetInstead, please use Firefox for the Mac Good idea to give Mac users the finger, guys. There's no excuse for it -- Safari is just as modern a browser as Firefox is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinsbuck Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 I think you are right. There is some confusion about where the market really is. Some people are in for a rude awakening-particulalry in the outer counties like Loudon and Prince William (I am in Prince William). Some people in Loudon county seem to think their location is as desirable as Fairfax. There was a great article on this in the WP two days ago. It had a chart that showed where the most homes are available. I'm in the business and some of our clients, especially first time buyers, that bought last year are having problems getting the value they need out of their home to refinance. A rude awakening is definitely happening right now and it's really gonna put some people in a bad situation. I've already seen quite an increase in the foreclosure market. That WP article was on the money for the most part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsNut73 Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 ....by the way, I should add I stopped visiting that site about a month ago... When I first went on I loved the site because it showed my home more than doubling in value from the purchase price when I bought it 3 years ago... ...then last month the value dropped by $18K in one month ...so I stopped looking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redskin56 Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 I looked up my house and some others I'm familiar with. It is pretty accurate. Without the benefit of a certified appraisal, I'd say that this site, for the most part, is a good indication of real property value (maybe not dollar for dollar but certainly in the ball park). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rictus58 Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 The rise in the prime rate will have an affect on the value of your home. check out my home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chomerics Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 The rise in the prime rate will have an affect on the value of your home.check out my home Ahhh, it must be nice being you huh Heff :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rictus58 Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Ahhh, it must be nice being you huh Heff :laugh: too bad they don't show my grotto! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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