Comprables database

August 7, 2005 1:57 PM

I'm looking for information about home prices that have recently sold. Specifically, I'd like to find some sort of database that can make it easy for me to get comparables for any given property. Even more ideally, if it could compare a resource of available properties, and flag when their comparable value is under the market, that would be fantastic. Any thoughts on this, or how I could put this together?
posted by wflanagan to work & money (12 comments total)

A real estate agent will provide such a comparison, a "market analysis", for you for a particular property you may be interested in purchasing, comparing similar properties that recently sold near the property. I'm not aware of a database but this information would be useful to me too. I'd be curious to see how my house has appreciated recently.
posted by cahlers at 2:00 PM on August 7, 2005

Someone just asked this...like 10 questions down.

House Values will do this for you for free (a CMA), and will connect you up with a Realtor in your area that will take care of it for you.
posted by thanotopsis at 2:11 PM on August 7, 2005

The Salt Lake Tribune does this on their Web site. Maybe your local paper has something similar.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:20 PM on August 7, 2005

if it could compare a resource of available properties, and flag when their comparable value is under the market

Since you've asked for thoughts, I'll offer: if indeed you could find a database that truly had comparable prices for a given property, there would be no need for appraisers.

It's precisely because no two houses are alike (outdated kitchen, great view, located next to a park playground, well-landscaped yard, different school district, whatever) that sale prices deviate so much from official appraised values (the valuation for property taxes).

So the most you could hope for from such a system is that it would flag deviations based on things like year built and square footage, and number of bedrooms and bathrooms. And then you would know ... what? That the price of a house is different than expected, so ...

If you think that there are severely underpriced houses out there, waiting to be snatched up and resold by someone smarter than real estate agents who have been in the business for years (helping sellers set prices, and buyers to find attractively priced houses), and that the market is such that severely underpriced houses sit on the market for more than a few days, then perhaps you should also be thinking about buying a bridge or two?
posted by WestCoaster at 4:39 PM on August 7, 2005

I do not know what was said ten questions down so I will offer this--check the online site of your County Treasuer or Recorder and see if they do nor have evaluations/sales and additional info online--more and more counties do this--it is ideal for real estate agents, the pubic and their own ease--one of the most popular programs is called "Aires"
posted by rmhsinc at 4:44 PM on August 7, 2005

LEXIS/NEXIS has this info if you have access.
posted by caddis at 5:29 PM on August 7, 2005

Lots of this available at Domainia.
posted by dhacker at 5:38 PM on August 7, 2005

Yeah, I don't expect this to put appraisers out of buisness. What I'm looking for is a way to "mathmatically" select houses that I should take a look at. The ones that are low relative to their comparables probably have some problems. These "fixer uppers" is what I'm looking for.

Using a system would at least help me sort out the ones that are obviously not fits, and help me narrow down my search.

I've seen domania and the others. I think they're a good start.

Thanks for the comments, and I'm happy to hear any more.
posted by wflanagan at 6:12 PM on August 7, 2005

It's called Innovia, and you have to be a real estate agent to use it.

If you are seriously looking to purchase, a realtor will be happy to do the research for you. No cost to you.
posted by konolia at 6:42 PM on August 7, 2005

In Boston, we have Banker & Tradesman.
posted by cribcage at 7:59 PM on August 7, 2005

If you are seriously looking to purchase, a realtor will be happy to do the research for you. No cost to you.

Except, of course, for the 6% commission they take for the privilege. Heck, I DIY home repair to save hundreds of dollars, why can't I look up some listings and save tens of thousands of dollars? Really, I won't mind the work.

For the record, no, I'm not selling right now and I agree with the sentiment that it's quite unlikely you or I will find any screaming deals except for the most unusual of circumstances. Maybe.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 12:30 AM on August 8, 2005

Your local newspaper should publish all recent home sales. Spend an evening at your a public library and pull all the sales information. Don't forget to ask the librarian for help even if you think you don't need it--they're typically better at searching for things than you.
posted by plinth at 6:52 AM on August 8, 2005