What you call your home is way more than just a four-walled house. It undoubtedly falls under the list of some of the very big investments that you will ever make in your life. This is exactly why determining the worth or value of your home is important. One might not just need an idea of it, to sell off a property, but knowing home value estimates in general, is also necessary to buy your new home and plan your finances accordingly. Read further to know more about the importance of a home value estimator and how the entire thing does its job.
You just read about how being aware of the value of your home is important. But what exactly is this ‘home value’ that we are talking about? It has differing meanings, depending upon whom you ask about the worth of the home – be it the homeowner, tax assessor, or appraiser. Another name for it is ‘current market value’ for obvious reasons. This is because it’s nothing but an amount for which a house will sell, keeping in mind the present market rates.
Steps to Provide a Home Value Estimate
A home appraisal plays an important role here. An appraiser objectively gives you a home value estimate. Roughly, the steps might look as follows:
- An appraiser visits the home and examines the property in detail.
- The person then tallies it with the local real estate market and further researches about the property to get clearer ideas of the worth of that house.
- The estimate is finally dependent on many factors like the recent sale value of comparable houses, the characteristics of the neighborhood where the house is situated, and the age, area, and condition of the home.
However, this entire process can be called a thing of the past now. The questions remain the same – what is my home value? What’s my house worth? So to speak, the process of determining the value of your home also remains the same. But it’s done just a lot smoother, with less time required to carry the process out altogether. The job is done by something called a home value estimator.
Calculation of Home Value via Calculators & Its Influence
An online calculation of your home value gives you a general idea of the worth of your property. These calculators collect data gathered by online real estate brokerage sites. Hundreds of points are considered, like the neighborhood of the home or whether it has a clear view or is situated on a busy road. A free home value estimator is something that is doing the rounds now. But ideally, it is a lot more than just putting in your address on an online portal. These basic estimates are just a starting point since there is a lot of nitty-gritty in this sector. However, going for a professional online home appraisal is of utmost importance to get the best rates.
It is interesting to note here that the market value of your home could change from time to time. There are a couple of factors responsible for it. Real estate is something that generally has an ever-increasing demand. As time passes, the demand increases for depleting areas of land all over, driving up the value almost every day. A home value estimator tool looks into these factors that could influence the value of your home, but certainly is not limited to only these:
- The rate of the house, when, and if it was sold previously.
- The characteristics of the neighborhood ensure the quality of living.
- Market conditions and the total strength of the economy.
- Nearby amenities for the residents.
- Tax assessments.
- Square footage of the entire property, preferably both carpeted and non-carpeted.
- Age and condition of that particular property.
How do an Online Home Estimator Works?
Let us very briefly see how an online home value estimator does its job.
- An online home value estimator will keep an eye on your home value once you put in your details and share them with them. These companies regularly keep a check on your home value, allowing you to always be aware of the worth of your home, and in turn your net worth.
- You can track your progress when it comes to paying off mortgages. This is for you to know how much you own before owning your property completely.
- The application does its job of calculating your home equity as well. You are also offered an easy-to-read visual that will show you through graphs and factual data, the current value of your home minus the amount you still owe.
- Seeing all of it fit into your net worth is a different feeling. Just by the tap of a phone, you know what you have and what you still owe.
- The estimator, after calculating your home value, prepares you better, to buy, sell, refinance, look into your updated equity or even negotiate lower property taxes.
- Last but not the least, it also provides a picture of your financial health. Almost 73% of Americans think that the market value of your home is worth knowing solely because of this reason.
4 Best Home Value Websites
Your home’s value matters. If you want to try out tracking your home value, there are a couple of online home value estimators which can guide you through. Nonetheless, these estimates are rough and can differ from the actual worth of your home. Here is a list of home value websites that can help you track your home value and make the job easier:
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ZILLOW
Probably the biggest and the most popular in its arena. Zillow is a trusted website for monitoring your home’s value. According to many financial experts, the best thing about Zillow is that it’s extremely user-friendly and has an interesting, attention-grabbing on-site layout. Apart from finding the worth of your home, Zillow also allows you to shop for houses in your locality, hassle-free.
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TRULIA
The working of this site is similar to Zillow. By putting in details of your property, Trulia comes up with the average listing price for similar homes in your area. What makes Trulia stand out is the fact that if you plan to refinance your home, the website is ready to help you with its own set of approved lenders.
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REDFIN
Redfin Estimate is slowly doing the rounds of the internet now. It is becoming very popular amongst those who are interested in real estate. Redfin also calculates the cost of property taxes each year. It’s a fact that Redfin refers to Multiple Listing Service (MLS) to make use of the most accurate data to calculate your home’s worth.
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REALTOR.COM
This is a free website that can be used by anyone to get a price estimate of your home. Apart from that, it also gives more information about the locality, listing prices in that area, information about local schools, and also property tax assessments.
Conclusion
Throughout our lifetimes, we have only seen home values to be going up. Rising prices affect our wealth significantly. Even if you don’t plan to sell your property, watching the prices of it go higher is fun. Using an online home value calculator also helps you consolidate personal debt or give rise to ideas behind a business from your home itself.
However, getting too attached to these kinds of ups and downs can also result in unnecessary pressure. All of these online home value estimators only give you a rough estimate of the value of your home. Getting the ‘real’ quote is possible only if you consult more than one realtor in person as that option begets far more pragmatic results than any online real estate tool ever can.
