As soon as you start looking for your new home, you’ll find that your email inbox, facebook adverts and every website you visit becomes a cacophony of real estate sites trying to tell you how much your home could be worth!

Then, once you’ve bought your home, the adverts crescendo until all you see is a sea of dollar signs and pictures of laughing couples sitting by sparkling pools like they have forever to relax and never have to work to repay their mortgage.

Reality bites.

How reliable are the algorithms which power the websites which promise you a high level of accuracy for pricing your home?

In short – they are highly inaccurate and dangerous for Sellers to use as research.

Yes. I’m going to tell you why you should *never* rely upon an internet program to determine the value of your home.

Firstly, let’s agree on one thing. You home is only worth what someone is willing to pay. Agreed? Agreed.

Secondly, if you are:

  1. Looking to purchase a home
  2. Recent home buyers
  3. Looking to sell your home

…chances are, you have a really good understanding of what other homes are like in comparison to yours.

Why?

You’ve dutifully looked on the usual sites to find real estate in your area, yes. But more importantly, you’ve actually gone and *looked* at the properties with your own eyes.

You’ve stood in spaces and felt the breeze on your face. You imagined yourself sipping cocktails on the back deck. You’ve found that one of the bedrooms was a little bit smaller than you expected. You’ve felt the western sun beating down on the living room. You’ve heard the peaceful bird sounds even though you might be close to a freeway.

And you know that no two properties are the same. None.

Two houses built directly next door, by the same builder, with the same materials, at the same time and with the same features are not the same as each other.

There’s always going to be the slope of the land, the position on the street, the treescape, the view, the neighbours…. I could go on, but I think you’ve got the picture.

That’s the beauty of the property market! Your home is as unique as you are – there are no two the same.

And that’s why you can’t rely on a computer to decide how much your house is worth.

Plus, an algorithm doesn’t know which agent you’ll choose. It also doesn’t know if you’re going to sell your house as is, warts and all! Or if you’re going to improve the property with staging, professional photography and a kick-arse marketing plan.

Only an agent who has the experience and knowledge to walk through your home with you and see all it’s features, knows how to market your property to encourage as many people to view it, and has the negotiating skills to help you achieve the best price in market can show you how much your property is truly worth!