Is An AVM Worth Anything in A Roller Coaster Real Estate Market?

If you've been reading my blog, you are well aware that this is a total Seller's market. TOTAL!!! So, how does an AVM handle that? Hah, it can't. But, happy to report, I certainly can.

If you're like any Seller, you are peeking at Zillow, Redfin, Trulia, Realtor.com, or more, to kind of get an idea of what your home may be worth. Quite honestly, any good Realtor is looking at those sites as well so we can see what you see.

In a balanced market, or a market that hasn't recently shifted, or a market that doesn't have foreclosures, or a market that doesn't have short sales, or a market that has a lot of inventory, or a market that has very little inventory, or a market where homes are very individual, or a market where most of the homes are single stories, or a market where it's snowing outside, or a market ....well, you get my drift.....you can get some valuable information from those AVM's. Look for the actual definition of the AVM in Fuchsia below.

But, what's really important to talk about, is that those things are generally just a starting point for what your home may be worth to a buyer. Yeah, you know, "A home is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it". That's for another day and I have to remind sellers of that statement periodically.

At any rate, call me and ask me about what your home is worth? I'm going to look at local sales data and give you a ball park figure, i.e. I'll give you something like an AVM. But, then, I'll ask you about upgrades, cosmetic & mechanical. I'll check satellite maps to see where you are truly located, busy street, cul-de-sac, backing up against a school. And, yet, still, I won't really give you a suggested list price without seeing your home in person (or during a pandemic via Zoom) & having a conversation about what I'd suggest you do to get your home market ready and you'll tell me what YOU are willing to do to get market ready. Suffice it to say.....I sell a lot more homes than you do ....so trust me when I say the more you do that I suggest, the more money you will make. 

It's why you hire me....because I'm the one with the Real Estate experience. 

And, I'm not just a computer guesstimating on your homes' value.

Automated valuation models

Automated valuation models (AVMs) are statistically based computer programs that use real estate information such as comparable sales, property characteristics, and price trends to provide a current estimate of market value for a specific property. An AVM report provides a written summary of the results.