Maybe you’re thinking of listing your home For Sale By Owner (FSBO), or maybe you’re just curious as to what your home is worth before you make any solid plans to sell. You open up a new browser and ask google, “What’s the value of my home?”. What do you get? About 468 million results, the first several pages of which are automatic home estimators. But seller beware… these rarely yield accurate results.
Automatic Estimators Yield Varied Results…
US News recently posted a study detailing some of the top automatic home estimators from companies such as Zillow, Redfin, Chase, Bank of America, and more. It then goes even further to compare some home estimates from each of these, and the results are astounding. The difference in pricing estimates between Zillow and Bank of America, for example, was over $236,800 for a 2-bed 1-bath home in Miami! That’s a pretty extreme difference…
… Most of Which Aren’t Accurate
Online estimators aren’t really meant for being used to sell homes. Rather, they provide a “starting point” for finding a home 
value, a ballpark estimate of what your home could be worth. A home seller quoted in a recent article from NerdWallet compared her appraisal value with a Zillow value… and found it to be about $24,000 too high (which could have made it difficult to sell). Also noted in the article, a group of Realtors completed a study comparing homes they’d appraised with Zillow and Redfin values… and discovered most of them to be inaccurate, particularly if the homes had been renovated or upgraded.
Zillow even admits it’s not the end-all be-all for home pricing, but rather a “Zestimate” or starting value. It uses recent sales and property tax assessments and other local data points to determine its estimates, but its median error rate is over 8%! Why? Mostly because sites like Zillow, Trulia, and Redfin aren’t really concerned with providing you an answer, but rather with providing leads to agents.
So… how DO you find the true value of your home?
How to Find the TRUE Value of Your Home
The only real way to get an accurate pricing on your home is to ask a renowned local Realtor. We’ll compare the same data as those online sites (recent sales in the neighborhood, city and area stats, etc.), but we’ll add a LOT more human 
considerations that will ultimately be the deciding factors on the success of your sale.
Factors Only Considered by a Realtor
Realtors get a much more accurate read on the TRUE value of your home—that is, what a local buyer will ACTUALLY be willing to pay for it. We’ll consider include your upgrades and renovations (or necessary upgrades and renovations, which we can recommend you complete to raise your value). We’ll also take into account the popularity of your neighborhood, nearby amenities, new developments coming to the area that will drive up the demand for your location, and the features we know local buyers really are seeking.
Want to Find the TRUE Value of Your Home?
Then it’s time to ask Carla Freund! As your local Triangle real estate expert, I’m highly experienced at accurately pricing homes to sell, which means you can trust me to provide an accurate home evaluation. Find out more about my seller services, or contact me today to get started listing your home.