I have an idea…..we develope a way to keep appraisers informed on what is being reported (ex; this article). This could be difficult because the appraisers that I use apparently all live in caves with no outside contact to what is apparently going on. The word to appraisers from 35,000 feet is “generate values as low as you feel that you can get by with”…oh, and then you will receive your check no matter if the loan funds or not!

By the way I forgot to add this little fact. I had a loan that cancelled due to low appraisal. Zillow stated the home was $325K and it came in at $220K. Zillow needs to wake up!

Zillow has been useful for property value trends by state and county, but that is about it. If you want an accurate value on a property their calculations are far from realistic.

Zillow has been useful for property value trends by state and county, but that is about it. If you want an accurate value on a property their calculations are far from realistic.

I have not found Zillow or CyberHomes to be reliable on-line indicators of individual home values. As Shannon Hicks says, they give you an indication of the current trend. More useful (and conservative) is Chase’s on-line valuation tool, driven by First American CoreLogic. To get several on-line valuations at once, try eppraisal.com, then take an average of them. Finally, don’t forget to use a tool such as Google Earth or Streetview to look at the subject home and the comparables, then make some educated adjustments based on condition, location, etc.