6 Indicators that Your Niskayuna Home’s Online Estimate Is Wrong
When determining a home’s value, real estate professionals look at several big factors. With an agent, you have a little more say in home your home is priced. When you look online, however, you don’t always have that luxury. Many homes’ online estimate are posted far below the appraiser’s estimate, although some are higher than a realtor’s expert advice. In some cases, the bank’s automated valuation comes in much lower than you normally would expect.
So how can you tell if your home is priced lower than it should be? Here are six factors to look for to tell if your Niskayuna home’s online estimate is wrong.
The market went through some major changes.
The real estate market can change drastically. A new major company or production plant can bring in new people and drive up housing prices while the closing of a company can destroy them. In reality, this is a tough market to predict, even for human appraisers. If you know the housing market around you has experienced some big highs or lows, then don’t believe the online estimate as an accurate number.
Your home is in an older neighborhood.
When Niskayuna home evaluators online pull data on a house, they look at public records to tell them how many bedrooms and bathrooms your home has as well as its size and any other factors. The problem with that, however, is that Niskayuna homes change over the years. If you bought your home 15 years ago, then there’s a good chance you’ve done some major repairs, maybe even added a bedroom or a half bath.
If you don’t get a permit for your renovations, your public records will not accurately reflect your home.
You never got permits for your home extensions.
If you’ve added extra bedrooms or bathrooms without a permit, then your online estimate will most likely be wrong. These online tools pull from city records, and if the city doesn’t have a record of your building, then those changes won’t be reflected in the online price.
Your home has some very unique characteristics.
Let’s say you love gardening, and you create this beautiful replica of your favorite botanical garden in the backyard. Or maybe you’ve built a treehouse that looks exactly like the White House. An online estimate doesn’t know how to take in these factors, so your home may be worth a little less online. Talk with a real estate pro to determine how these unique characteristics can affect your home.
Homes don’t often go on sale in your area.
In rural regions, there aren’t a lot of properties to sell in the first place, so when one goes on the market, it’s an abnormality. Online home estimators have a harder time determining the value of the home if other sales haven’t been made in the area recently.
Your home is next to a dissimilar district.
When your Niskayuna neighborhood borders another neighborhood with vastly different property values, those values can be reflected in your online home estimate. These online tools pull from geographical locations, and they don’t recognize the border differences, such as school districts.
Online home estimators are usually the most accurate in cities and markets where activity is frequent. Planned communities and subdivisions where homes look similar are a little harder to gauge. Work with your real estate pro to find a good price for your home.