HELLO GUYS, i’M HAVING A PROBLEM FINDING COMPS WITHOUT USING A REALTOR. MY REALTOR IS WILLING TO DO THAT BUT I FEEL I’LL WASTE ALOT OF HIS TIME PULLING COMPS. ONE OF THE GURUS RECOMMENDS USING METROSCAN HAS ANY ONE HAD SUCCESS USING THIS SERVICE. I’LL LIKE TO GET AN OPINION BEFORE I ORDER THIS SERVICES PLEASE HELP!!![url][/url] 
I use metroscan occassionally and find it cumbersome to use even on my good days. Instead I almost always rely on comps from the MLS unless it is truly a unique property. The MS software has a high learning curve and performing the searches are a bit tedious. MetroScan will only provide data that is in the tax record of a property. It doesn’t have the list value of properties currently on the market. Depending on your market and the frequency of the MetroScan updates for that market, the tax data you receive could be 6 months to a year old. Also, depending on how lazy your county clerk is, the sold price may or may not be shown even if the sale is only a month old.
Depending on what information you really need, using an agent may be a better option. If you want all the tax data and your realtor can’t get it easily, metroscan might be your option.
Weigh out the options of buying metroscan vs. paying your realtor a fee slightly less than the metroscan monthly. If your realtor has an assistant, this might be a task he passes on to him/her anyway.
Run it by him and see what he says. Another option you might look into is Realist at http://www.firstamres.com Not sure what the cost is on this though.
hope it helps
Have a good night
Sharon
I am not sure that I know what “comps” are yet, but if you are talking about finding the market value of properties, along with what the properties in the same neighborhood are selling for, I use a free service from lending tree just to get basic information. You can order the full report, but the free service will give you some good info. WWW.Lendingtree.com, go to home values, all you need is the address and it should pull it up, Unless it is an extremely new property. I hope this helps, if not, disregard this message!
Jan,
First, turn off the caps. That’s considered yelling, plus it’s hard to read.
Second, why would it be a waste of your agent’s time? Are you not planning on making offers through him?
You don’t pull comps on every property that you see. You only pull comps on properties that you intend to buy, so it shouldn’t be a waste of time.
Moreover, you need to learn values in your farm area. Educate yourself. Have your agent pull you a list of solds within the last six months from your farm area. Look at the particular of each and compare. How many 3 bed 2 bath homes? What was the total heated square feet? How much did each sale for? How long did it take for each to sale? What did the ones that sold faster, and/or for a higher than normal price have that the others did not?
Drive by several of these and visually look at them, too. Before long, you should be able to get with $5K of what a property should list for, and more importantly sell for. Then the comp is only for your personal assurance.
Raj
Raj-
Was I right in assuming you can do the same thing on lending tree? Can you tell me what the difference would be from what the agent can get and what you can get for free on lending tree? I just want to make sure I am not missing something vital…
Trecey,
I’m not familiar with what exactly lendingtree is offering, so I can’t say much about it.
With my limited experience with lendingtree, I can assure you, though, that it isn’t “free.” Using their website, you first have to plow through popup after popup, and I’m sure that you had to fill out some application to get their free service. How much spam mail do you get from them now?
Okay, I’m through with the rant.
Now, an agent can supply you with specific solds within a specific area and moreover, they can supply you with the particulars of each deal as it was listed such as # of rooms, square footage, days on market, etc. etc. These are important variables to determing true value. Also, an agent will likely have access to the particulars of the transaction like, did the seller pay all of the closing costs, was there seller financing, was this a distressed sell (bank owned, in foreclosure, moving, etc.). Again, these factors play an important role in determining value.
I don’t use lendingtree, but I doubt that they can supply all of the above info.
Hope it helps,
Raj
I am sorry guys for the caps and all the info you gave was very helpful and useful.This is a great forum for learning.Thanks again.
Ok Thanks Raj- lending tree doesnt get that specific. But I have to say that its a pretty easy way to find quick info an a property. the only catch to it is that you will have to give your email ( which I use a “dummy” email address). No spam. It gives 3 comparables in the area, dates they were sold, how much for, sq footage, bedrooms, Tax assessed Value ( which I am still not clear what that means) Heres an example of what you get for free:
Your Results for 814 karie Drive
Price Evaluation
Low
$172,900 High
$183,900
The above range reflects the fact that there may be undisclosed information and upgrades done to the home and property. Are you looking for an Exact Home Price Check®?
Home Details
814 Karie Dr Mcdonough, GA 30253
County: Property Type: RSFR Year Built: 1999
Bedrooms: 3 Bathrooms: 2 Living Area: 2,155 (sq.ft)
Prior Sale Price: Prior Sale Date: Assessed Tax Value: $66,680
Neighborhood Home Sales Comparisons
(for period 05/03/2004 to 05/03/2005)
Address City ZIP Sold Date Sold Price Bed Bath Living Area (sq.ft) Land Area (sq.ft) Appx Age
815 Karie Dr Mcdonough 30253 07/16/2004 $168,000 3 2 1,918 5
1482 Elena Dr Mcdonough 30253 11/18/2004 $179,000 3 2 2,150 4
- You may also be contacted by an agent to receive a more detailed market value of your property.
To upgrade to full report costs $14.95
Here’s what you’ll get when you upgrade:
Home History
15 Home Comparisons
Crime Statistics
Neighborhood Demographics
School Information
Zip Code Charts
Much More
This FYI for anyone who might need it
Actually, that doesn’t look too bad to get an idea of the value.
It’s still missing some important details, plus I’m curious how they came to their idea of value.
With those two comps, the average (target) price is $173K, not the low end. And I doubt that you could get $184K for it when the second comp sold for $179K and it’s basically the same sq ft.
It shows a place for land, but it didn’t provide it. That’s very important. Two identical houses sitting on different sized lots, or even different lay of the lots (like a steep slope vs. flat) will affect value.
Tax assessed value: What the county thinks that the property is worth for tax purposes. This is the number that your taxes is based. For example, here the county tax rate is .50 per every 100 dollars, so the annual taxes on this one would be 667 X .50 = $333.50, or $27.80 per month.
Raj