Comp Reports

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I am in Palm Beach County Florida.

Our County has a public appraiser. (Separate from the tax assessor). The Assessor decides tax values, but the Appraiser evaluates market values for properties.

(Have a look at Palm Beach County Property Appraiser website).

It is possible to download the sales records for just about every property in the county.

From there, one can compare recent sales in a particular area.

(Some sales are recorded for only $10, or $100, and so forth. But plenty others have the actual value listed).

Can other posters here tell me if other states/counties have similar systems?

Thanks.
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[Tom C]

Many sales including my own has no sales price listed on our county auditor web site. I have no idea why this is and some day I will make a phone call. When this happens I then look at the tax assessed value and you can pretty much figure out that the accessed value is always about 10 to 15K less then the real value of the home.

[Patrick Murray]

The assessor's website in Cumberland County, NC (my market) will list sales information for each property, but it never seems to be accurate.

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Interesting.

People may not record the true value of a sale for a number of reasons. But, that info is definitely important.

Estimating is one thing, but knowing what people actually paid in a given area is a better measure, I think.

For what it is worth, however, I am not sure that zillo is worth a damn.

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[Patrick Murray]

If you really need to know a property's market value, you should hire an agent to comprehensive market analysis (CMA). They should have access to the local MLS and the skills needed to thoroughly analyse the property.

[Bryan .]

I also check Realtor.com for local recent sales and also realstats.net for our area all you do is plug in a street name and a zip code. The local newspaper uses them and they appear to be fairly accurate.

[Jason Fant]

The problem with the free stats and public records is that you can find out the sales prices, but they usually lack other critical information you need to make an informed estimate of market value. Some of these factors include days on market, any seller concessions, etc....

You might find that you have a comp that sold for 200k in public records, but a realtor can tell you that it sat on the market for 200 days and the seller ended up giving back 20k in closing help to finally get it sold. Now if I was trying to evaluate a property for a rehab, I really need to know those details for me to fully evaluate the deal.

Find a realtor that will do these CMA's for you. Many will help if you promise to list with them if the deal goes through. Don't abuse them though by running deal after deal through them and never biting. If you are just trying to get a feel for a particular area rather than a particular deal, offer to pay them a fee for running these reports. Beleive me, it will be worth the expense.

-- Jason

[Paul Cordero]

Major Title companies such as First American are great sources for comps. A lot of them have websites that you can look up recent sales and comparable data on.

Realtors will also do this via the MLS.

If you have a good relationship with a Mortgage Broker or Loan Officer, they will be able to get you free comps from their appraiser.

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Thanks.

All good tips.

I am interested in buying and selling Real Estate full time, and doing as many deals as I can manage. So, any source of such information that is high quality but also inexpensive is favorable, because I plan to do this in volume.

Hope your'e enjoying the weather in sunny Arizona.

What do you think of Joe Arpaio?

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