Home Appraisal Websites

July 17, 2007 by Redfin Blogger

Reading Time: 2 minutes

For several years, Zillow has been the leader in home value estimate web sites. But apparently it now has some competition. While working on a post this morning, I found that Yahoo! Real Estate offers up appraisals from 3 different sources: Zillow, E-appraisal, and Reply! Real Estate. Pretty smart of Yahoo to open a real estate section but pull in work from other online businesses: Maps courtesy of Yahoo; Home Value estimates courtesy of Zillow, Reply! and E-appraisal; and 1-Year Home Value Change Graph, Home Sale History and Tax, Recently Sold Comparable Homes and Nearby Similar Homes for Sale, all courtesy of Zillow. So, how do these three appraisal engines compare? In my research on a mansion in Los Gatos, on the market for $3,495,000, the following information came up:

E-appraisal.com: $2,793,652
Zillow: $3,304,488
Reply! Real Estate: $5,808.057

I also typed in my own address to see what would come up, as I know the market well in my area, and have recently confirmed value with a realtor. Zillow was pretty much spot on, Reply! was just a little low—but within the ballpark—and E-appraisal was off by over $200,000. While these are only two examples of online appraisals, it seems that Zillow got both consistently, while Reply! was way high on the mansion, while in the range for my own home, and E-appraisal was low on both accounts.

Zillow had the largest amount of features on its web site. By typing in your own address, or that of a home you are interested in buying, you get a variety of map views (including a bird’s eye view, which in my case goes to prove that I actually can skinny dip in my hot tub without anyone seeing me from above), valuations on homes in your neighborhood, charts and data, including 1/5/10 year valuations, Sales History and Tax Information, Recent Area sales and listings, and much more. With Reply, you get the neighborhood map with cvaluations on area homes and comparables on the initial page, but must click through to see additional information, such as trends, charts, and data. E-appraisal gives you a range, map, and comparable data, as well as a bonus of the temperature in the city you are searching.

If you are represented by an agent, this is not a solicitation of your business. This article is for informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for professional advice from a medical provider, licensed attorney, financial advisor, or tax professional. Consumers should independently verify any agency or service mentioned will meet their needs. Learn more about our Editorial Guidelines here.