Which one of these three provides the most accurate home price estimate about the listed homes? Each of them seems to have a different price estimate but same listing price. Also their monthly payment calculations are different despite the same listing price.
Realtor, by a mile. I'm all for tech but until redfin can see inside a house, review comps from a human perspective and literally smell the air or feel the sun; don't trust redfin or zillow, at all. There's a reason they have huge payouts if you can improve the algorithm!
All three have got offsets. If you wants to know, ask your buyer agent, what is “comps” process?. You too follow the same methodology in doing guess work based on sale prices in same neighborhood for last 30-90 days.
No algo can accurately forecast a deal price or estimate. Just using hardwood floor as an example, the price difference per sqft between a cheap one and a good one can easily go $10/sqft. And hardwood floor is not the only thing that could create a difference between each house, building material, backyard shape, etc can all make huge difference. All these things, you can not just build a model from the very limited MLS information and/or the photo provided by the listing agent, you have to see the house in person to tell. That's why algo can only do the 80-90% work and you will need to work with a local agant to do the last mile fine tuning of your offer price. And that's also why Redfin has our own full-time agents to work with you :)
Well, sorry to let you know but Redfin is doing a job of estimating very poorly despite hiring full time agents.
You should interview your Redfin agent just like any other agents and ask to be assigned another agent if you don't like the current one. With thousands of agents out there, the experience can be hit or miss. Do your own DD :)
No algo is going to tell you the value of a home. Sorry to say, but only a really experienced local real estate agent can accurately gauge value because they KNOW what interior features buyers value the most, how the neighborhood schools affect prices, best streets, etc.. Estimates from Redfin and Zillow are just teasers to get people engaged in real estate. Buyer's agents are free to the buyer because they are paid by the seller-use a good one, it is worth it because you will never get their expertise from an algo
The payments differ because the financing terms differ. They make money by forwarding your information to different loan brokers and loan originators. Also, they use a different estimate for things like taxes and insurance. As for estimated price accuracy none of them, they all use different formulas and algorithms. The one thing their algorithms all have in common is they rely heavily on asking price for their projection.
What’s the best way to figure out a reasonable price before making an offer? The prices of the homes in the neighborhood differ quite a lot, depending on when they were sold. Also is it a good time to for buying a house or should I wait till summer when there is more inventory?
Prices differ in neighborhoods because of lot size, home size, recency of home upgrades, pools/landscaping, and age of the home. It’s difficult to determine a fair price but the most used method is called the comparable method. Where they attempt to equal every home out by normalizing them. To be honest you should just make an offer based on your local market. If homes are selling for near asking price then unfortunately that’s what you will have to pay. Some markets homes sell for above asking price and others are below. I would take a look at what a comparable sized home sold for in the neighborhood before and start my offer below that by 5-10% depending on how badly you want the home. To determine payment size, find the actual taxes paid on the home, actual HOA if any, and a home insurance quote. Add those to a mortgage calculator and that should be decently close to what you will pay.