Automated home evaluators are supposed to give you key neighborhood and historical data related to the home you want to sell or buy, and they can work well in most cases. But if you are in a non-disclosure state (a state which does not require the public posting of sold data,) or a county without automated tax roll services, automated home evaluation tools could yield mixed to inaccurate results.

Accurate sales data is a crucial element of the home evaluation tools made available by third-party companies such as Homeadvisor.com, Realestate.com, and Homegain.com. If they can't always get "sold" information, how do they come up with valuations?

Home evaluations are only be as good as obtainable records will allow, and these data are subject to interpretation by analysts. The Internet companies use their own technologies or rely on third-party data aggregators to get property information. Depending on their relationships with information providers, these companies can glean data from sources as diverse as local government agencies and taxing authorities, the labor department, third-party economic and demographic companies, and all the way to the National Association of REALTORS and the U.S. Census Bureau.

With all of these checks and balances, the accuracy of the data is also compromised by the speed and cooperation shown by these sources, particularly local taxing authorities, to release and share this data, which can take as long as three months in some cases. In addition, each company may have additional proprietary evaluation methods that they use to complete the numbers, and that can also mean wildly differing results.

Using the same sample home, 6206 Saratoga Circle, Dallas, TX, 75214, results from Homeadvisor, Realestate.com and Homegain were somewhat far apart.

Homeadvisor returned the best results for a calculated sales price based on sold comparables within the same zip code - $182,826 to $245,620. Using sold data from its real estate broker partners and other sources, Homeadvisor also showed homes that are currently for sale. But, there were no sold comparables of the immediate neighborhood, even though eight homes had sold within a four-street radius since January 2000. With that in mind, it's surprising that the results were as accurate as they were, considering that none of the solds were for the immediate neighborhood but were blocks away - a testimony to the "data interpretation" side of the equation. On Homeadvisor, the consumer is invited to find more precise results by keying in the previous sales price ($160,000, and date of purchase (5/1998). Homeadvisor quickly returned an estimated value of $203,056.

Realestate.com returned a general property analysis report but wisely declined any "value" report, citing unavailability of data. That's fine, since Texas is a non-disclosure state.

Homegain returned a report with the widest range, but most of it was unusable. Like Homeadvisor, no results were returned for the immediate neighborhood, nor were results even returned for the same zip code. Comparables ranged from .58 to 1.81 miles away. The homes ranged from $68,000 to over $1.3 million, for an evaluation estimate range of $299,250 - $303,525. Homegain did report a more accurate home characteristics with an updated tax assessment, but otherwise the comparables were out of date, with comparables going back to 1998. Like Homeadvisor, Homegain offered no solds from 2000 for the immediate neighborhood.

To test the home evaluation tools, the Saratoga home was also evaluated by professionals who viewed the home in person, a Realtor and a bank appraiser. A tax roll appraisal was done by computer based on rising sales for the city of Dallas. As the largest home in the neighborhood due to a converted garage, the Saratoga home could not be priced using all its square footage, believes the Realtor, but would have to be discounted slightly to a fair market value of about $240,000 to $250,000.

• Realtor's CMA: $251,460 ($99 per sq.ft.)
• Bank appraisal: $189,000 ($74 per sq.ft)
• 2001 Tax assessment: $184, 500 ($73 per sq.ft.)

What does all this mean? Despite the best information, home evaluations are subjective. Values can rise or fall within a few streets or blocks due to condition, updates or lack of updates and other circumstances. According to the Realtor, within a four street circumference of the Saratoga home, there were eight comparables that sold since January2000, ranging from $99 a square foot to $133.96 per square foot, the difference between updates and no updates, she said. Of the still active homes, there were homes at $124 and $130 per square foot, and one home, 6171 Saratoga Circle, is offered at $109.65 per square foot, and backs up to an electric railroad track.

To price any home for sale, or to make an offer for purchase, a consumer needs the local expertise of professionals who are familiar with the area, its unique conditions as well as individual homes in the area. You may have fun trying the home evaluation tools in your home city, but as the Homeadvisor, Realestate.com and Homegain will tell you, get the help of a professional if you are serious about buying or selling any home.

Published: July 25, 2000

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. For more articles by Blanche, click here.