I came across a "new" site today that is trying to compete with Zillow, Trulia, and other sites that allow anyone to estimate the value of a property.
This one has added text-messaging capability, so you can send a text message with a property address to their site and within seconds, you'll be able to get the information they have on the property.
Sounds great, right?
The drawback is their "extensive databases" (quoted because that's what they say in the "About Us" page on their site) aren't so extensive after all, at least not yet.
I tried searching for several addresses and here's what I came up with:
- NO Estimated Value
- NO Value Range
- "-" for their Confidence Level (meaning the confidence they have in the accuracy of their estimated value)
- Incorrect map / satellite info. For example, I searched for one of my properties and the satellite image pointed out the house next door.
- Some outdated property information from county tax records (for houses that had additions built on but tax records still indicate the previous size). This one isn't Housefront's fault, but it goes to show that you still need to do your own due diligence and sometimes there just aren't any shortcuts to actually seeing the property.
Still, they did better than Lending Tree's Domania, who couldn't even find my personal residence, saying "We're sorry...
Please make sure you have entered the correct Zip code." (I tried 6 times)
I'm sure these sites will continue to get better as they build their databases and improve whatever algorithms they use to calculate an estimated value. But for now, they should definitely be taken with a grain of salt.
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