What are some ways to estimate my home's value

[azanon]

I live in the city of Little Rock in a subdivision. My particular subdivision has many houses of nearly the same quality and size, and every now and then i'll get a flyer showing one for sell with the asking price. So far, i've just been "estimating" the value of my house by this figure and making some minor adjustments based on the differences in the house being sold and my house, as well as taking a few thousand off since the asking price is often above the actual sell price.

Are there other ways i can get a fairly accurate estimation of the value of my house other than hiring and paying someone to do it? I mainly like to know cause i track everything in Quicken and like having an accurate net worth figure.

Thanks,

Azanon

 

[cube_rat]

I use this site to get a ball park:

http://www.housevalues.com/SurveyA.aspx?

Also, the "homes sold" in the local newspapers can give you whats sold in your neighborhood. I also use the on-line MLS in my area to get an idea of asking price.

 

[brewer12345]

The best way to estimate is probably looking at the actual sales prices rather than asking prices, but even then it will be only a ballpark because you have no way of knowing what the terms of the deal were (money rebated to buyer, seller carrying a mortgage, FSBO, etc.).  All sales have to be recorded, usually on a county level, and this info is public.  If your county makes these records available online (mine does), you can just do a little surfing to see what sale prices were.  Otherwise you may have to make a trip to the county courthouse, which may not be worth the trouble unless you plan on sellling soon.

 

[Howard]

How about interviewing 3 Real Estate Agents as well as on line sources

 

[MasterBlaster]

Here's a good way to ballpark a neighborhood:

See what some recent sales were for houses in your neighborhood. Then divide the selling price by the square footage of the house to get a ballpark cost/square foot for your neighborhood. Add or subtract a delta for dollhouse/run-down house/ house near railroad track etc.

Then just use your neighborhood cost/square foot and multiply your house square footage by that to get your ballpark price.

I find that this method works really well for houses where I live. I can usually estimate a houses price to within a few percent.

 

[riskadverse]

I second the square footage formula of MasterBlaster. This also happens to be a very good way to judge how good a purchase of a house might be.

 

[Arif]

Try www.domania.com or http://realestate.yahoo.com/re/homevalues/ or
http://realestatecenter.bankofamerica.com/RePortal/homepage.aspx (click on
Estimate the value of your home)
I have a few more but this should give you an idea of homes that sold in your area.

 

[FlipnSf]

I saw this great website on CNN over the weekend when they were interviewing its CEO. Itll give you their estimate of any us address you type in. The web site is www.zillow.com .

john