Does anybody use Quick Comp results??
And how accurate do you find it?
Thanks for your input.
In my area (Monterey, Ca) Zillow is at the least 15k and at the most 98k off of actuals. I compare my list prices to everything the ‘aftermarket’ websites put up.
I’ve heard that in other areas it does well for people. Compare it with the ads in your newspaper or maybe even craigslist?
You must be a RAI graduate.
I have Quick Comp Results and it’s pretty good but not perfect. I noticed that Zillow will list certain properties that Quick Comps doesn’t so basically, use both to get a better idea. But Quick Comps gives you tons of information regarding the property and it’s history plus demographic information.
Zillow.com stinks for my area (central Texas). Bbut then, just about all online comp tools do. Zillow not only uses the tax assessed value, but gets the value from the previous year. Ouch!
Can one of you post a link to quick comps, I’d like to take a look at it.
By the way, among the best advice I have ever gotten from anyone was from property manager, who said to go look at 100 houses in your area. I combined that with my general knowledge of my area and can get reasonably close to many neighborhoods in my area before I do anything. Here, many neighborhoods have houses all the same type and size. By picking out a few here and there, I was really amazed at how much I know now compared to before.
The websites and other methods are decent sometimes, but they are better when combined with knowledge you already have. I could look at a couple in a certain area, and because of that, I could know a reasonable value of 500-1000 houses, or more. And he was right, the best way to learn is get out there and look.
Again, I would appreaciate a link to quick comps.
Thanks, Tony.
Bobo,
I hope you’re right because that’s what I’ve been doing for the last four weeks. I look at 5 houses every Sunday, and after 20 weeks, well, you get the idea…I’ve been keeping a spreadsheet with data on each house - nothing too fancy, just the basics.
The problem with this area (or benefit) is that each neighborhod is completely different from poor to rich, from small to big, from old to new, etc. Several realtors have told me that they have no clue how to read the market of the town as a whole. I’m a little unsure why they say this to me because it seems obvious that those houses close to the center of town sell somewhat well and those on the perimeter do not. Maybe they think it puts me at ease to crack a joke about how screwed up the market is…hmmm…
riboflav,
No offense, but you’re going about it wrong. What you need to be doing is focusing on ONE particular area within your market, even as little as a particular neighborhood depending on the size of your market. As you learn a specific area, you can move on to other areas.
Raj
You mean like a small neighborhood, as opposed to an entire town?
Again, it depends on the size of your market and the conditions that affect your market, but the simple answer is yes, even as small as one neighborhood.
Most MLS systems are divided up into specific sections. I’d suggest that you start by looking at a specific section of your MLS area, preferrably one that you plan on buying properties. If that is still too large an area, then narrow your focus until you are looking at properties that are within your investment price range.
I know of several investors that have made a good living investing in properties that are within a 5 mile radius. They learn that area like the back of there hand. If a property goes up for sale, they know it. They know how much it’s worth. More importantly, since they focus on such a small area, they also focus all of their marketing to that area as well, so they get more calls/leads from that area than someone that markets to the whole area.
Raj
Can someone post the URL for Quickcomps?
Here is a decent way to get to know a particular area. It’s not exact but it gives you an idea.
In my area I have access to MLS but it seems you should be able to get this information pretty easy if you do not.
Anyway, in my area homes are selling for roughly 97% of the list price on average. It’s very easy to compare ALOT of homes quickly by picking a zip code and putting that into MLS. Then you can look at what homes are listed at. It’s pretty easy to then figure out what ‘at 125k home’ looks like. The amenities that it has, the size, style and location.
The good thing about using something like realtor.com is it:
- Has pictures — this is helpful because it gives you an image of what a ‘125k house’ looks like in that area.
- Compares homes that are for the most part, retail quality. By this I mean that you can see what homes are selling for after repair / in normal lived in condition.
- The listings have a blurb at the top with all the ‘key’ features. If you pay attention there are some very common ‘key’ features in an area. This means this are the features that are prized more than others. Buy homes with this feature or make sure you have as many as you can in order to keep your home competitive in that area
In the end all something like realtor.com gives you is the listed price of homes in the area, not the final sales price. You need MLS for that (at least in a non-disclosure state). But, in reality you are not competing against homes that have already sold. You are competing against other homes currently on the market. So a site like realtor.com gives you a very good indication of what price you need to be in, in order to have people come see your home. The bottom line is they purchase on emotion, but in order to get them to ‘fall in love’ with your house you have to get them into the door. That is done by pricing your home at a price point that makes it competitive in that market.
My strategy is ‘turn and burn’. I would rather price the house a little lower than the market to sell it very quickly than to price it at the top end and sit on it. That is just my strategy. In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that I deal with bread-and-butter neighborhoods in the 100-125k area. Price is more of a concern in this market than in the higher end homes where it’s less of a commodity market, and more of a luxury market.
How reliable are comps from Title companies such as FirstAm and LandAmerica?
Depends on your state. My state is a non-disclosure state. By that I mean that the sales price is not part of the public record so a title co has no way of pulling reliable comps because they can’t look up sales prices. The only reliable source here is MLS which has the final sales price listed.
Your best bet is still calling an Appraiser. Face the fact you have to network anyway so start now!
Robb