Best Home Value Estimators
Your home value estimate is of great importance. What your home appraises for, is perhaps one of the most important things on your mind at times. Depending on circumstances, your home value could play a major role in your finances.
For most Americans, having a home is not only a personal milestone, but oftentimes, can also be by far, the largest asset owned.
There are several ways to make a determination of your home value. Say you’re deciding to place your home on the market – your realtor seeks out comparable homes within your geographic location. He or she uses this information to arrive at a close estimate of what others might be willing to pay, to competitively price your home.
Looking to refinance a mortgage?
Your lender almost always orders a home value appraisal prior to any other step in the mortgage refinance approval process.
If you’re looking for a more hands on approach however, to knowing your home’s value, and tracking it over time, these 13 amazing websites, and their home value estimator tools, can give you a clearer point-in-time picture of your home value.
Read on to see what they each bring to the table
Table of Contents
Why so much emphasis on A home value Estimator Tool
A huge portion of the American Dream is owning a home. No wonder why knowing your home’s value plays a huge role in achieving your ultimate financial goals for yourself and family.
Here’s why your home value and the right home value estimator tool matters:
- Financial Leverage: This becomes all important if you ever have to take a loan against your home’s value. If you’ve had your home for a few years, perhaps, and the value of said home were to experience significant appreciation, you’ll have most of the leverage when it comes to restructuring your loan, or taking a home equity line of credit (HELOC)
A home equity line of credit could be your saving grace in paying for large, and unexpected expenses. These include a car purchase, education for the kids, or even that new pool you’ve been promising the family.
- Investment Value: All things being equal, the value of your home should increase over time. With your home value increase comes a commensurate increase in your overall net-worth. Personal Capital is a great tool to use in staying on top of your net-worth.
If you were to turn-around and sell your home, you make all that money back like it were an investment property.
- Striking While Hot: If you are open, even in the very least, to the idea of selling your home – you’ll want to know exactly what the market is doing, and when it makes sense financially to cash in on rising home values.
- Having the right Insurance: knowing your home value is essential in making sure you have the right homeowner’s insurance coverage against any losses.
- Planning Your Estate: According to Andrew Mitchell , CFP – Founder of Wealth Management; understanding the value of your home is a vital step in Estate and elder law care planning.
What is your home value currently?
These sites below are teeming with tools to get you a close estimate of your home’s value at any given point in time.
Redfin
Redfin is a very popular site with which to estimate your home value. The site has uses Redfin home value estimator tool.
With Redfin, by providing answers to very brief questionnaires, you are granted access to deep insights and detail about any local neighborhood or community.
It’s amazing the level of detail provided, including of course, an accurate estimate of your home’s value.
How to use the home value estimator
Simply go to redfin.com and enter your address on the Redfin Home Page. You are provided with detail including the Redfin Estimate, last list price of your home, and other neat data.
There’s even a graph tracking your home value estimate over 5 years.
Zillow
If you own a TV or a computer, you know the name Zillow.
Zillow is by far one of the biggest, and most well-known real estate websites in operation today.
It is perfect as a home value estimator.
Simply enter your home address into the site’s neat app and you’re provided with a “Zestimate – a cool word coined by Zillow to describe your estimated home value.
How to find Your home value estimate
Simply go to redfin.com and enter your address on the Redfin Home Page. You are provided with detail including the Redfin Estimate, last list price of your home, and other neat data
There’s even a graph tracking your home value estimate over 5 years.
Aside from providing estimates of your home’s value, RedFin and Zillow pride in providing accurate data around neighboring properties to arrive at market value estimates as well.
Realtor.com
Do not let the name of this one full you. Realtor dot com is not a social club where the local real estate agents gather for online parties.
It is in fact a free to use website for home buying and selling.
Plug your address on the very front page of the site and wa-laa, you are served up an estime of your home’s value.
More than just estimates however, realtor.com provides you detail regarding local school ratings, demographics, median home prices in the area, and tax detail.
Getting an estimate for the value of your home is as easy as typing your address in the realtor.com search bar. You toggle over to home value, and you are given a value in just seconds. How’s that for online service?
How to use the home value estimator
Enter your home address on the welcome page of realtor.com and you are redirected to a page detailing your home.
The Realtor.com home value estimator tool, provides up to 3 estimates of your home value, which should be plenty to give you an idea of what your home is worth.
RE/MAX
RE/MAX, one of the grand-daddy real estate firms, has also developed their own home value estimator.
The tool is completely free to use; albeit, i’m sure in hopes you become a client of theirs in your home purchase or sale, depending on where your desires fall.
It is non-invasive in that, RE/MAX does not squeeze you for personal information in return for access. Much like zillow, just enter your address.
Upon keying in your home address, RE/MAX provides you with nifty little color maps and graphics. The detail provided includes:
- Home Values
- Grocery Stores
- Restaurants nearby
- Shopping
- Coffee Shops
- Nightlife
- Schools, and much more.
It’s a nice tool if you are more of a visual person and have a sense of appreciation for maps and colors.
How to find Your home value estimate
Right on the front page of remax.com, plug in your home address.
The estimate is provided free along with all the other neat detail mentioned above.
Don’t forget RE/MAX provides you all of this detail for free – and do not require you to give up any personal information.
Trulia
Just like afore-mentioned Zillow, entering your home address on the site (trulia.com) gives you average price listings for homes silmilar to yours.
Trulia also offers up detail about your home’s measurements and dimensions as well as other pertinent data.
How to find Your home value estimate
Once you key in your address in the Trulia Bar on the welcome page, you are re-directed to a page featuring your home, together with the free Trulia Estimate.
Other information at your fingertips on trulia include streetview of your home, schools in the area, crime statistics, and commute data.
Ziprealty
A smaller site which not as much authority as the big boys. Nonetheless, Ziprealty provides you with the basic detail satisfying your search.
They are able to provide you your home value estimate by interfacing to Zillow and essentially providing you the zestimate on their own site.
To obtain a detailed estimate however, you’ll have to click on the ziprealty pricing tool which may or may not cover your specific geographic location.
How to use the home value estimator
Like many of the others, simply key in your address right on the home page, and your home value estimate (aka zestimate) is served up on the very next page.
ForSaleByOwner.com
Originally, for sale by owner, as the name suggests, was created to help homeowner’s bypass the realtors, and market their homes to sell themselves.
The pricing scout tool however, is free to use, and upon signing up, gives you an estimated value of our home based on recent comps in the area.
How to find Your home value estimate
Type in your address – nothing more to it. The home value estimator gives the listing of comps to match against your home. Hence, you get a better understanding as to how the estimate was arrived upon.
Real Estate is the closest thing to a proverbial pot of gold – Ada Louise Huxtable
Eppraisal.com
Eppraisal.com is another smaller site, when compared to redfin or zillow that is. The site however packs a punch in providing you the bare detail you need in knowing your home value estimate.
How to use the home value estimator
Type in your home address in the top right corner of the eppraisal dot com welcome page. You are presented with eppraisal’s home value estimate as well as a side by side comparison to Zillow.
HSH.Com
HSH.com is a consumer mortgate resource site. In business since 1979, they provide home buyers and sellers alike with free tools on the site with which to make real estate decisions.
One of said free tools is the hsh home value estimator.
How to find Your home value estimate
Simply log on to hsh dot com. Navigate your eyes down to “Manage your mortgage” on the bottom right portion of the home page.
Click on Home Value Estimator (How much is my house worth). Here, you are asked a few questions including your metro, time of purchase and purchase price. This detail is used by their tool to provide you with an estimate for your home.
Real Estate ABC
Real Estate ABC interfaces with Zillow to bring you your online home value estimate. The info you therefore get here is none other than the Zillow zestimate.
On top of this however, Real Estate ABC gives you deep insights including exactly how much homes in your area sold for recently. This is gold because up till now, all you could see on other sites is the list price, but not the final selling price.
The site is rather antiquated in look and feel, just fyi.
It however does not lack in detail.
How to use the home value estimator
Key in the requested information – your address, city, zip, on the home page and you’re immediately taken to a page with an estimate of your home’s value and other juicy detail you’d like to know.
Chase Home Value Estimator
Yup! Chase Bank has their very own home value estimator tool, and it is available to use free online, to see your home’s value.
Be prepared for an estimate range however, unlike a fixed figure like most other sites on this list.
What chase does is this…
They give you an educated price range, that your home likely falls into based on their market research. They also give you same info for other homes in your neighborhood. This way you have that detail to compare your home with.
How to find Your home value estimate
Key in the requested information – your address, city, zip, on the home page and you’re immediately taken to a page with an estimate of your home’s value and other juicy detail you’d like to know.
Best part of Chase’s online home value estimator tool is – it’s FREE.
EZ House Prices
EZhouseprices.com is a site with a clean interface and really easy to use. Key in your address and zip and the site provides accurate data on your square footage, year built, plus, bedroom and bathroom counts.
How to use the home value estimator
This is one of the sites where you’ll have to provide your name and email before they send you your online home value estimate. If you don’t want to end up on a mailing list, EZ house prices may not be your number one option.
NerdWallet
NerdWallet is a personal finance, credit card, loans, travel and money type site. They bring you lots free of calculators and estimators including:
- home refinance calculators
- home value calculator
- amortization calculators
- mortgage calculators
- cost of living calculators, and of course,
- online home value estimators.
How to find Your home value estimate
NerdWallet is yet another site that simply interfaces with Zillow to bring you your online home appraisal zestimate.
The home value estimator tool is simple to use. Key in your address and your estimate is presented free, on the next page.
Keeping track of your online home value
The value estimate of your home – and in particular, the rising price of your home, plays an all important role in your credit standing.
Truth is, even without plans to sell your home, seeing your home value estimate go up over time gives an exhilarating feeling. You made the right choice, both for you and the family, and you’re sitting back and watching the fruits grow.
Home values do take dips however, in times of unrest or economic crisis. The Covid-19 pandemic definitely affected home values – some areas hit more significantly than others.
Let me know which of the 13 online home value estimator tools or sites above is your personal favorite. Hit me up in the comments below.
