Accurate Comparible Home Analysis

[Dennis Dougherty]

Good Morning and Happy Holidays,

I have one last set of  questions before I take a break for a couple of days.

1) When doing comps for a given house,  what is the best way to do this ?

I have heard of taking the average of a couple sites like Zillow and redfin, but I have also heard that these sites can be high or low by 5-10%. 

2) Is it safe to take the average  and should we average more than two sites info ?

3) Are there other sites that can be used for comps if you don't have access to the mls or have an RE license ?

Thanks,

Dennis

[Christopher Phillips]

All you really need to do is look at solds on Zillow or other sites. You have to decide which is a legitimate comp, but the "solds" are the same ones any agent or appraiser would look at. Only difference between my MLS tools and what you can get from Zillow is that I can search on more parameters.

Don't use AVM's, some are off as much as 60%. They are at best a starting point.

But, comps aren't necessarily what you'll "list" your property at. When I prepare a competitive market analysis, I look at solds, under contract, currently listed, and expired. I'm looking at more than what has sold in the last 3-6 months. I'm also trying to find out what's going on in the market. What's expiring because it's priced too high, how long are properties listed before going to contract, and ultimately the difference between list price and sold price. I'm also looking at things like absorption rate and how that is changing over time.