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USA
Today...
Best
sites
to determine your home’s value
By Kim
Komando
May 7, 2012
Graphic: Thinkstock
If you
haven’t checked to see how much your home is worth lately, you might be
in for
a pleasant surprise.
Real estate
websites can help you analyze where you stand with your home’s value.
Nationally,
the median list price of a single family home is $189,900, up 5.6
percent
compared to March 2011, according to Realtor.com. Here’s another
good-news
statistic: Inventory of for-sale single family homes is down 21.5
percent on
the national level.
But, like
the weather, all real estate is local.
In Phoenix,
where I live, you could hear a collective sigh of relief sweep through
the
Valley after news that the median list price jumped a whopping 23.5
percent, to
$179,000. The inventory of total listings is down 48 percent.
Unfortunately
for Chicagoans, median list price fell 9.5 percent there, to $190,000,
even
though inventory also declined nearly 16 percent.
For folks
who are going to buy or sell a home this year, knowing this kind of
information
is crucial. Even if you’re staying put, it’s smart to know where you
stand when
it comes to your biggest investment.
Several
real estate websites — and their companion apps — will help you do just
that.
Zillow
(www.zillow.com)
Type in
your address — or any home you’re curious about — to see what the
“Zestimate”
is. If you’re a homeowner and disagree with a Zestimate, check to see
if the
facts about your home are wrong or out of date. You’re allowed to
update your
home facts, but you can’t remove your home from the site.
If you’re
an investor or curious about what your home would fetch in monthly
rent, Zillow
also provides a Rent Zestimate for properties.
Keep in
mind that estimates are only starting points. They’re no substitute for
a
professional appraisal or a comparative market analysis.
Be sure to
check out Zillow’s fun Make Me Move feature. If you’re not quite ready
to put
your house on the market, this could be a good way to test the waters
and alert
potential buyers. Name your “can’t refuse” price and see what happens!
Trulia
(www.trulia.com)
At Trulia,
you can get an estimate of your home’s value simply by entering your
address.
Edit or add facts about your property if information is wrong or
missing.
Trulia is
an excellent tool if you’re house hunting. It’s helpful whether you’re
looking
to move across town or across the country. Search for homes for sale by
city,
state or zip code.
In addition
to standard searches based on price range and number of bedrooms and
baths,
Trulia allows more creative searches, too. Already know the market and
just
need to see new listings as they come up? Confine your search to
listings that
have been added in the past seven days. Still want to search without a
Realtor?
Search for open houses only. Looking for a bargain? Try searching just
by new
price reductions or look for houses in foreclosure.
Trulia’s
unique Heat Maps provide a graphic picture of an area’s sales, price
trends and
popularity. Adjust the Heat Map by neighborhood, city, county and
state. You’ll
also find school ratings, information about nearby businesses and
comments from
local residents. Have a question? Try asking it in the Q&A
forum and get
advice from a local real estate agent.
Realtor.com
(www.realtor.com)
More than
900 Multiple Listing Services across the U.S. funnel home listings here
— the
official site of the National Association of Realtors. If you’re
serious about
selling your home and want an informative report on your home’s value
and
comparable sales in the neighborhood, this is the place to go.
Click past
the front page and Realtor.com becomes a trove of information about
mortgages,
real estate trends and other topics. In the Home & Garden
section, for
instance, you’ll find advice about how to tackle common home
improvement
projects and save money on energy.
Read the
article with links at USA Today
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