April 16, 2007

How can i find out the current market value of my house

If you are looking to find out the current market value of your house, there are a number of methods that you can use online to do this research.

The best site to find the value of your house is Zillow.com

Zillow is a very unique website that is designed to give you an edge in real estate and it is free. Zillow gives you an estimate of the current market value of your house, and it should be the starting point for you before you go to a real estate agent.

What you do is type in your address (or just your zipcode if you prefer) and zillow uses its complex algorithm to scan millions of bits of data to give you an estimatated value of your house. It even factors in things like agent fees and closing costs in your estimate if you wish.

Zillow uses Google Earth to zone in on your street or zipcode so you can actually see it - this feature is so cool if you are looking for a new house and you want to get a closer look at the area or street you are thinking of moving to. Just imagine how useful this feature could be - especially if you are planning on moving to another state and you haven't had a chance to check out the area.

A great feature is that their estimate tool gives you a chance to tell it about features of your house than may increase its value that it doesn't know about it, such as interior decorating, garden landscaping, built-in bookshelves, a deck you added etc. The estimate tool takes into account the added value of these features and what you paid for them. Other online estimators do not take into account factors such as this when estimating the market value of your home.

It should be your first stop when you are thinking about selling your house.

Once you have gotten an estimate on the current market value of your house from Zillow you should follow up by getting a real estate agent or a professional appraiser to visit your house for a Comparative Market Analysis.

If you choose to you can even post your house for sale on zillow and handle the sale yourself.

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