Which Free Comp Site Is Better?

Which free comp site is better? There may be different opinions on the subject.  Realquest is quickly over taking Zillow day by day.  Zillow is a free home value estimator web site that offers post sales data. Zillow is a fun tool but don’t count on it. The free home estimator can be off the mark by 25% on 1 in 10 homes, and even Zillow says “We don’t recommend it as a final word”.  Realquest on the other hand is used by 9 of the top 10 lending institutions, and gives its users the capability to download mailing list. In some instances Zillow uses tax appraisals as the value of a property which can be very outdated in some counties. Realquest uses court house records to determine the value of property, which also includes for sale by owner transactions. 

This is very important because 30% of homes are privately sold and not sold through realtors.  Zillow does show pictures, bird’s eye view pictures, and 3D panoramic pictures of properties searched for. This is a feature that Realquest hasn’t incorporated into its system at this point. Zillow offers very valuable information about properties for free, but has been known to sometime have inaccurate data. This may be due to users being able to change information about a property they may or may not own. Realquest only supplies a limited amount of free information about properties unless you subscribe to its services or commit to buying a detailed report. With Realquest subscribed services users can pull up deeds and search for properties by owner name.

Zillow sometimes uses homes to compare that are not comparable to the property in question. When comparing homes the basic characteristics are the same number of bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, age, architecture, and neighborhood type, but Zillow will use anything close within 2 miles. Realquest is much more precise when comparing homes and calculating comps. I tested Zillow by checking the value of a rental house I own in Georgia and the value came back a lot higher then I know its worth. Then I tested the same property at Realquest and the value came back a lot closer to the numbers I expected.  Get your own opinion by searching the value of a property that you already know the value for. Every investor should realize the importance of having a solid comp site. The last thing you want to do is overpay for an investment property. The most important thing to remember when buying investment property is not to overpay. This will hurt your ROI (rate of return) in the long run. Do your research and use a reputable comp site to run your numbers. You get what you pay for. Free isn’t always better, so be careful. This business can make you or break you. The people who have longevity are patient and disciplined. Make sure your one of those people and I guarantee you will have a prosperous career in real estate. Comp services may be expensive, but they are well worth it.