Green Real Estate Appraiser

Some of that information can come from sites like Zillow that offer what’s called an “automated valuation model” — AVM for short — that purportedly present a great estimate of the current market value of millions of homes. It’s cool technology, amassing an enormous amount of information from publicly available sources in one place that is then scrubbed through very sophisticated algorithms to predict value. And all of that is presented in an easy-to-use user interface.

And to its enormous credit, Zillow has done a tremendous job in reaching “top of mind” status with consumers. There’s just one problem: Those predicted values are wildly inaccurate and inconsistent.

Do you have a client or family member that is stuck on the Zestimate value of their home?  Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com and let them assist you with an accurate value of the home.

It simply isn’t possible for any AVM to predict the value of a home with a level of accuracy sufficient to make a housing decision.

Zillow knows that’s true — and they say as much on their Web site (although you have to dig a bit to find it). They have this to say about their “Zestimates” of value: “The Zestimate is not an appraisal and you won’t be able to use it in place of an appraisal, though you can certainly share it with real estate professionals. It is a computer-generated estimate of the worth of a house today, given the available data. Zillow does not offer the Zestimate as the basis of any specific real-estate related financial transaction. Our data sources may be incomplete or incorrect; also, we have not physically inspected a specific home. Remember, the Zestimate is a starting point and does not consider all the market intricacies that can determine the actual price a house will sell for.”

Yet not a week goes by that we don’t encounter a consumer who is fixated on a particular value for a home because that’s what Zillow says it is. Kudos to Zillow for making this kind of impression on the public — brilliant marketing. But our research shows that, on average, those “Zestimates” are within 5 percent of the actual value of a home just half of the time. (Funny, that’s what its research shows as well.)

read more at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/where-we-live/wp/2014/06/10/how-accurate-is-zillows-zestimate-not-very-says-one-washington-area-agent/?tid=pm_realestate_pop_b

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Let’s consider the major macroeconomic trends in 2016 that will significantly impact those stakes.

Homeowners should enjoy another year of solid gains in house prices. Prices have been moving steadily higher since the housing bust hit bottom four years ago and should post another gain in the middle single digits. With a bit of luck, prices nationwide could reach close to the all-time peaks seen in the housing bubble a decade ago.

First-time home-buyers, in particular, should have an easier go of it. The Federal Housing Administration, the government agency that primarily helps first-timers get mortgages, cut its fees last year and may do so again soon as its finances continue to improve.

For renters, 2016 will be a difficult year, as rents continue to rise strongly in most parts of the country. The problem is that demand for rental units has been outstripping supply, and vacancy rates are now about as low as they have been in 30 years. Fueling demand are the millennials who are finally finding jobs and striking out on their own, along with households that have lost their homes in foreclosure, and more empty-nesters looking to downsize and simplify.

read more at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/a-look-at-the-trends-that-will-impact-the-financial-stakes-in-housing/2016/01/06/44de14ce-9d16-11e5-a3c5-c77f2cc5a43c_story.html?tid=pm_realestate_pop_b

disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only