One place to begin researching a rough estimate of a home’s market value is online. Several free online tools provide an estimate of your home’s current value based on recent comparable home sales in your area using a comprehensive database. The downside of these systems is that the assessment is based on available public data, with no guarantee of accuracy and often using an algorithm that simply averages comparable sales in the geographic area. These are quick and easy, but do not answer questions regarding factors like location and current local trends. Be aware that in practice, the prices arrived at might be highly inaccurate. For example, a home in Ohio was put into one such system, Redfin (www.redfin.com/what-is-my-home-worth). The home last sold for $180,000 in 1998; it was appraised for refinancing in 2015 at $275,000. In 2017, Redfin’s calculator valued this 1890 Victorian home (4 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, and 2,100 sq. ft.) in a four-block area of “Grand Old Ladies” at $158,000. The apparent reason is that the six “comps” (comparable recent sales) include only two homes in this desirable neighborhood (over $300,000), while four others are outside this small neighborhood, although close, and sold for $150,000 to $199,000. Information that would be known to real estate professionals in the area is missing. These tools are worthwhile for obtaining “comps” of area sales; however, they aren’t accurate enough to use in arriving at a listing
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