What Is My Home Worth? 6 Most Accurate Home Value Estimators

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The most accurate home value estimator is a professional appraisal, but for a free starting point, online tools like Redfin’s and Zillow’s are among the most useful and accurate options for estimating what a home may be worth. If you’re a U.S. homeowner, seller, or buyer trying to price a home, gauge equity, refinance, or decide whether a listing price is fair, getting a reliable estimate early can help you make better decisions.

Home values have skyrocketed since the start of the pandemic, and anyone who has bought, sold, or even looked into the market over the past two years has seen how quickly property values can change. That is exactly why so many homeowners ask, “What’s my house worth?”—whether they want to sell at the right price, refinance for a lower monthly payment, or simply understand what their home is worth in a shifting market.

In this article, we’ll break down the best ways to estimate home value, including comparative market analysis, professional appraisals, and online home value estimators, and we’ll compare popular tools from Redfin, Zillow, Realtor.com, Chase, RE/MAX, and Trulia so you can see which option fits your needs.

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How Do I Find out What My Home is Worth Accurately?

There are a few different ways to find out what your home is worth. Here are the top methods of finding your home value.

• Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) – Among the home value options, a CMA typically provides the most accurate home value because it uses recent neighborhood sales and comparable properties reviewed by a licensed real estate agent.
• A professional appraisal is performed by a licensed appraiser who physically inspects your property and writes an official report with the goal of an accurate valuation. Banks require appraisals when refinancing your home or getting a mortgage for a new home.
• Online property value estimators – A home value estimator tool is easy, convenient, and, best of all, free. It uses automated valuation models (AVMs) that rely on public data, tax assessments, property details, and recent comparable sales data to generate an estimated value. You can use this if you want a ballpark estimate of what your home is worth rather than a final number. This can help you decide if it’s worth selling or refinancing. That quick estimate is useful, but it should not replace an appraisal for major financial decisions.

All three of these methods can be worthwhile for you when you search for a home value estimate. However, major financial decisions should not rely only on an online estimate and may require a comparative market analysis or appraisal. An appraisal is going to be the most expensive option.

In fact, you can obtain the other two options for free. An appraisal, however, is the most comprehensive and accurate number that you are going to get.

Typically, it is best to explore the free options first and go from there. Online home value tools can help you track the current market, but accuracy often depends on data recency and local market trends, and home values can change with local market conditions before you seek a more accurate estimate. However, if you are intrigued by the free estimators or CMA results, it may be time to hire an appraiser.

Once you take that step in the direction of an appraisal, you will be that much closer to knowing exactly what your home is worth.

This will also tell you what someone will be able to borrow from a bank if they will take out a mortgage on the home, and owners often check value to understand their home equity. This is one reason cash offers are appealing; there is no loan involved, just an agreed-upon price regardless of what the home is worth, though home size, usable space, and renovations can materially affect value in ways online estimates may miss.

The Best and Most Accurate Home Value Estimators

If you are looking to sell or refinance your home, having an accurate value estimate is essential. It is also helpful to look up the value of a home you want to buy to find a fair price. This will give you an idea of what the bank can offer you in the form of a mortgage.

There are many websites that offer estimates, but here is a list of the most accurate ones, in our opinion. Any one of these options will give you a good idea of what your home is worth.

1. Redfin‘s “How Much is my House Worth?” Tool

Redfin is one of the leading real estate websites. It is actually a real estate Brokerage based in Seattle.

You can find many resources when looking to buy or sell on Redfin. The home value estimator proves to be one of the best on the internet as far as accuracy goes, since the estimator tool uses recent sales and comparable home sales to generate property value estimates.

They also offer the option to schedule a free consultation with a Redfin agent, and a local real estate agent can provide valuable insights and a more accurate estimate than the tool alone.

2. Zillow “How Much is My Home Worth” Checker

Zillow offers one of the most accurate estimators overall. Being one of the top real estate sites on the internet, Zillow has a very accurate estimator that has helped many people in their journey to sell their homes. One reason people compare it with other tools is Zillow’s median error rate. It tends to work best for on-market homes and may be less dependable for off market homes.

Most people turn to Zillow for all of their real estate needs, and users can enter a home address to see a current market value estimate. It is a user-friendly site with everything you need to know about real estate when looking to buy, sell or just learn more about it.

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3. Realtor.com Estimate My Home Value

Realtor offers many tools for homeowners, from the home valuation estimator to market value comparisons. There are plenty of resources for those looking to buy or sell.

Realtor is just as popular as Zillow, and they are very comparable in features to calculate home value. It is a Coke versus Pepsi kind-of thing with these two sites, and it boils down to personal preference.

They both offer lots of information and an excellent search engine.

4. Chase Home Value Estimator

Chase’s Home Value Estimator is a free tool that asks for your property address and returns an estimated value based on available data.

Some sources consider Chase’s home value estimator one of the least accurate, and its estimates may be outdated or unreliable.

Chase also has several calculators to help you determine what your home is worth, what you can afford, and which loans may fit your needs, whether you’re planning to tap home equity or preparing for a home sale.

There are also several educational articles to help you navigate all that comes with real estate sales, but the tool is built for a particular purpose and is still only an estimate.

5. Remax Home Value Estimator

Remax uses top technology to combine historic public sales information with market trends and local market conditions to produce a reliable estimate. In addition to the estimate produced by the Remax algorithm, they also show the Zillow estimate as a comparison.

All of these options offer very similar features. Some seem to produce more accurate results than others; however, checking multiple online home valuation sources is highly recommended to get detailed insights into the real estate market.

6. Trulia

Trulia is another great option to explore if you would like to further back up the estimates given from our original list.

Trulia has been around for years and, like other online home valuation platforms, can provide a rough current value as a starting point while offering many of the features that the other top real estate websites offer for comparable market analysis. These tools can reflect recently sold properties and buyer demand, but human expertise is still needed for an accurate valuation.

Estimating the Value of a Mobile Home

Finding a mobile home’s value is slightly different than finding the value of a normal single-family home.

The first option is to get a free book value, which is an average value based on the mobile home’s make, model, and year. This value is similar to the blue book value of any vehicle.

You can also get an appraisal done just as you would with any other home. A licensed appraiser would come to walk through the mobile home and generate an estimate based on all of the existing features, including square footage and any home improvements.

You can also research other mobile home prices and find an estimated CMA using sales histories and recent sales data for similar units. This is likely going to be the least accurate value estimate.

Discover The True Value Of Your Home

Fast Expert is an excellent place to connect with a local realtor in your area who can provide a detailed report or comparative market analysis to help guide you through this process.

A licensed real estate agent can analyze the subject property, review the sale price of nearby homes, and provide a more accurate home value estimate based on today’s market.

This is especially important before making major pricing or refinancing choices in your local market.