ADDICTED TO ONLINE REAL ESTATE INFORMATION?

Well, you're not alone. According to The New York Times' Michelle Slatalla, "in June... more than 39 million people visited the 20 most popular real estate Web sites, a 22.4 percent increase in visitors over the same period in the previous year, according to Nielsen/NetRatings Inc. Not only that, but a lot of those people are becoming addicted. At Zillow.com, for instance, 44 percent of the site’s users visited five or more times in June, and 25 percent of them 10 or more times, according to a spokeswoman for the site."

Unfortunately, the information one can glean from these sites often seems so contradictory that it's hardly worth the emotional stress or rash decisions that can be triggered by the numbers. For example, the difference between the highest and lowest values of Ms. Slatalla's home as stated by two different appraisal sites was $699,974. On top of that, when a real-life appraiser came to see her home he quoted her a value that was "$100,000 more than the highest online estimate."

So don't be sucked into the check-your-neighbor's-home-value-every-five-minutes spiral; and if you can't help yourself, remember to take it all with a grain of salt.

For a thoughtful, reliable, in-person estimate of your home's current market value, please email me, or give me a call at 831-457-5550.

To read Ms. Slatalla's article in its entirety, go to What's My House Worth? And Now...?