I have been in Real Estate in Tarrant County for 30 years. There is no online source for good accurate values because you have to see and experience the house before you can find a real value for the house. Zillow and those other web sites use weird comparables. Click on the comparable link and see for your self. You would never use those houses to compare with yours.

The Tarrant Appraisal District uses fairly good comparables. For the data about your home they use the permits you filed for or that the builder filed for. If the figure is too high the owner came in and argued. I think the figure on TAD is much better than Zillow and those other sites. Although I would not use TAD or Zillow or any other web based site to value a home I was buying or a home I was selling.

Pretty accurate would be how I would describe a very careful market analysis or a professional appraisal. They are estimates of what an informed buyer would pay an informed seller in an arms length transaction.

Thu May 29 2008, 10:40

Here is a scenario to consider. An investor purchased a home in Tarrant County for $72,000, spent $13,000 in renovations totaling $85,000. The county had it appraised for $115,000. As you can see with this example there is a $30,000 difference.

Hope this helps.

Sun May 18 2008, 11:05

Hi there,

Welcome to D/FW!

No, they're really not usually accurate. What are you trying to accomplish? Are you looking for the value on a specific home? In a neighborhood? Do you have your eye on something?

Let me know if there's anything we can do to help.

Thanks so much,
Terri Hayley

Sat May 17 2008, 21:23

We don't find them accurate either, as stated below. As an online source, we find Zillow to be fairly accurate in the Tarrant area, but just like Zillow tells you on their website: Buyers, sellers, and homeowners should supplement Zillow's information by doing other research such as:

Getting a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) from a real estate agent .
Getting an appraisal from a professional appraiser.
Visiting the house (whenever possible).

Fri May 16 2008, 20:10

No in most cases. Sometimes way above value, sometimes way below value. Sometimes can swing from below to above or back in one year. Remember the tax appraiser has likely never seen the house. They're doing mass appraisals for taxes, not really trying to figure out exact sales prices for homes. Your realtor can likely give you a better estimate of value.

Fri May 16 2008, 17:22

No the tax value is very different from the appraised value. We receive homestead exemption which is a reduction in taxes. However it's a quick referral source to determine if the list price is close or below tax values.

Contact my office if I can assist in comping a property of your interest

If you are looking for a property below market value happy to work with you
972-699-9111
Lynn

Fri May 16 2008, 17:01