...... there is little that anyone can do with respect to the vagarities of local disclosure variations...... they are off the mark in a few localities. That said, I am surprised that all of the properties I looked at in southern california and the bay area accurately reflect the current downdraft in transaction pricing as this has only occured in california markets generally fairly recently. I also tested it using lendors risk weighted appraisals in a couple of areas of the country and suprisingly in many cases the system knew about these with accuracy .... So, they are off to a good start ....
what's a lenders risk weighted appraisal? is this a new kind of lender based appraisal that does not utilize outside. independent appraisers? thanks
Huh, I can get the satellite photo with my house and the house I grew up in, but it doesn't do any of the valuation. It says it can't find a home at either address. Oh well would have been interesting.
The guy, Rch Barton, behind this new site developed Expedia.com previously, story: http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/3646081.html DS
What is most amazing is this guy's rock solid timing for launch, i.e. when everyone wants to know. Couldn't have been better.
This is just another in a long line of Automated Valuation Models or AVM's as they are called. They have been around for years. It is also one reason I got out of appraising real estate. The trend it towards more AVM's and less full appraisals. Some AVM's are pretty accurate. But they all have draw backs. There is no inspection, the most recent sales may not be used, and they may use sales that, although proximate, may not be comparable (size, quality, appeal). But in a cookie cutter neighborhood with current data, they can pretty accurate. When I first started appraising everything was done by hand. You had to go the courthouse to research sales, MLS data was probably a few weeks/months old. NOTHING was available on line. Now everything is online.
Man, I hope the guy I sold my last house to doesn't see this. He bought it in May 05 and paid last month's price! :eek: (which is about 5% more )