How can I know the value of a particular house?

Answer 1

Zillow.com, put in the address. Its that easy. By the way values will fluctuate on this site weekly, but it will give you a good ballpark.

Answer 2

Each person who answered is right, but none fully answered you question. The first person was right on when they said a house is worth what a buyer will pay for it! But, I think relying on tax information is completely unreliable as it is often not update correctly, if at all. Websites like Zillow rely heavily on this public information thus they aren't the most credible source. The only true way to KNOW the value of a particular house is hire a real estate appraiser. But, not everyone wants to KNOW bad enough to spend money so they take an economic shortcut and ask a Realtor their opinion because they research in a similar way by considering recent comparable sales in the immediate neighborhood. Lenders, especially the ones who are foreclosing on properties do this all the time but call these pseudo appraisals BPO's (broker price opinions).

Answer 3

The value of any given house is what a buyer will pay for it. That said, you can get a good guess at value by checking tax assessment rolls (if the taxing district uses a fair market value basis for taxation).

You might also check to see if similar properties have sold in the area recently, and check their sale prices. Aside from that you could have the property appraised, but for that you would need the cooperation and permission of the owner of the property.

Answer 4

You need to investigate WITH a realtor what are called COMPS = Comparibles

This is what OTHER similar homes in your area have sold for and based a LITTLE on what is being asked on active listings.

as an example. A friend of mine has a house in Bergen County NJ. His house was appraised recently at about $770K. So, a builder bought a whole bunch of land RIGHT BEHIND his house and started building. The homes that were being built were STARTING at $1.2M to about $2.8M. Based on Comps, his home is now worth, if he were to sell it today, about $1M........that happened in little over 1 year.

Interesting fact. Your home could have a base value and increase a small percentage year over year. As soon as more expensive homes are built AND SOLD, that value increases significantly....conversely....if you have a few run down or burnt out homes within your neighborhood, (blighted as it is otherwise known)........even though your home was worth for argument's sake $200K........just the presence of these blighted homes can bring your property value down to $150K.........big problem if you have a mortgage and need to sell......you are locked into a death match with the bank.

Answer 5

Just want to point out that zillow.com is not always accurate.

Zillow shows i have 1 fireplace when I have 2, it shows I have 4 bedrooms when I have 5. It also shows the zestimate for a house across the street from me only $15K less than my house when that house is about 1,100 sq.ft. less and 40 years older than my house.

When you make comparison, make sure that you are comparing apple with apple, not apple with orange.