Hello all, I'm interested in finding a company that offers home valuation tools that can be intergrated into

Hi Anitra,
If you're looking for a simple (and free) solution then try Trulia's publisher platform. This is a great tool and the header can be completely customized to match your existing website. We have integrated it into our website and it looks amazing:

http://www.myhome.tc

Notice that when you click on the 'search' tab, you're actually on Trulia's website instead of ours. Also, each community links back to Trulia's real estate guides. It's really an amazing product!!

Frankly, the best thing to use on a web site would be Multiple Regression Analysis that is designed for YOUR market. Instead of a company, I would find a good economist or Real Estate Professor at a University and hire them to create an MRA program to integrate into your web site. I assume this is how sites like Zillow or Cyberhomes do it. Or look into MRA software, which would allow for a license on your web site, and you could create a very simple one for buyers with just the basic features. I've done MRA where there were over 100 variables, but it can be much simpler. You can limit it to features like size, #bedrooms, etc. But the more variables the better. The trick is, not making it too hard for a buyer to fill out (2 minutes tops?) and yet making it reasonably accurate/helpful. This is the 4th method used by appraisers and I would certainly add a disclaimer about it being a tool, but not guaranteed, and certainly not an appraisal :) Hope that helps, I do think that's the route to go for what you want and btw, GREAT idea . What would be SUPER nice is if one could set this up, and then, just like IDX it could be fed data points automatically on your web site from all listings that close. Keep in mind, with MRA you can even use listings that are 2 years old, etc because you can add time lapse variables as well. In other words, the equation can be set up to include appreciation and actually make it MUCH more accurate in some ways than a comparative analysis. Just my thoughts, hope they help and don't overwhelm.

Brendan Murphy
Raving Real Estate
Laramie, WY 82070

Anitra: you may want to check into Cyberhomes. Good luck!
Peggy Nelsen

The autobusiness analogy is a good one actually, but for the opposite reason. With autos, you can get the base price model online and then choose from an insane array of features (try pricing a Highlander on edmunds) to get the cost, and MSRP etc. Visiting a dealership you never really know what you're going to see so comparing prices is very difficult, but with the data you can find the information on the base model. That is what customers are looking for with houses. I hope customers are smart enough to realize that you aren't pulling one of 10,000 off a shelf, each is unique, but if you know the base price of a standard 3/2 cape cod that has been sold in the past 3/6 months, you have a point of reference and can make better decisions. The lack of a point of reference is what causes a lot of confusion and also works in the seller's favor because a big reduction looks like its not a deal when it could just be their initial price was WAAAY overpriced.

While there is a great deal of public information available, much is not. In the state of Texas for instance, recent sales prices are not publically disclosed in public records. Also, things like curb appeal, condition, location, updating can be difficult to determine without specific knowledge of the comparables used and how they relate to the subject property. In short, at best we would be performing a disservice to our clients in attempting to automate home valuations presently. While this works reasonably well for the auto business, we do not have the uniformity necessary to accomplish this. Technology unfortunately does not accomplish all things well but overall is quite an asset.

Historical sales for a choosable range and area with Selling Price % Original Price would go a long way and would be boon for customers everywhere.

Anything short of a real live, well educated and trained REALTOR is doing a grave injustice to the consumer.

Based on the constantly changing market and bank demands made on appraisers, there is no better way to provide market value for a property than a REALTOR. Anything less than a human with an educated brain, is short changing the consumer.