onthehouse.com.au has released an automated valuation estimate solution on almost every property in Australia called ‘Guesstimates’, a first for the Australian market.
Residex valuation technology is used to intelligently calculate and estimate the value of the property, it is then forwarded to the consumer free of charge; other detailed and analytic information about the property is also provided. The Residex valuation technology has also been used by some of Australia’s leading banks.
onthehouse.com.au prides itself in being able to assist Australians in making informed decisions about the properties they are looking to purchase or sell, but ‘Guesstimates’ is also intended to be used by real estate agency clients, to establish a more efficient and engaged marketplace for the consumption of traditional and innovative digital real estate products and services.
The ‘Guesstimates’ feature is located within the property values section on the onthehouse.com.au website; the company encourages members to interact with ‘Guesstimates’ and adjust the values by providing additional information about their property.
One thing to keep in mind however, is that ‘Guesstimates’ is used for bank valuation purposes only, which are different to the way a home is valued for sale, which requires further in-depth information and local knowledge; this is where professional real estate agents are called upon to give a more accurate and realistic estimate of the property in question.
‘Guesstimates’ can be a useful and good first step though, for consumers interested in purchasing or selling a property.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I tried the “guesstimate” and yes … it is a guess. Not only was the picture they showed of the wrong house (and not even the right street), the value on the property was out by $500,000 – and i only bought it 1 year ago!!
If you are going to have a guess – at least try to be close!
My house is not for sale but when I googled my address, I discovered that without my permission or any notification or prior contact, onthehouse has my property listed on their site. I emailed onthehouse to notify them that they had the wrong photo. The house they had pictured as my residence was a vacant run down old weatherboard, the number of bedrooms was 1 and no available carparking. My home is a renovated Edwardian double brick dwelling with 3 bedrooms and I have a large block of land that can accommodate at least 8 cars plus I have two marked on street designated resident car parking spaces. To make things worse they had undervalued my address as being approximately $150,000 less than what it’s true value is. I have inspected via onthe house guestmate, friends and family’s homes, and the guestmate calculations are extremely incorrect. Undervaluing does so much harm to properties on the market for sale and in addition to the median property values of areas. I have requested onthehouse to remove my property address from their website and they refused. Instead they advised that if I want the incorrect informatiom altered I will have to register on their site. Then they will only consider altering the information. Apparently they will only seriously consider a Real Estate Agents information on propertiesand as I have mentioned my house is not for sale at the moment. Even if I ever do choose to sell in the future I will be selling privately without an agent (as I have done in the past). I don’t want to register on onthehouse.com.au and I don’t want my property listed on their site (whether the information is correct or incorrect). Surely there must be other people who are infuriated by onthehouse.com.au submitting false and misleading information and in addition infringing on peoples privacy.
I too am very angry at onthehouse website. We have not listed our property, although the website says that it is current it is not as our property has an election sign on it that is 3 years old and other homes that have since been built are not on the website and these homes are 3 years old they show only blocks of land. The address next door is the picture of our house. We gave no permission for onthehouse to list our property, our property is not on the market yet, it is below independant valuations by at least $100,000 and although we have sent onthehouse an email to immediately remove it they have not. Also they are falsely advertising current listing but it is an old photo. I though maybe if I joined I would be able to remove it but could not then tried to update it but was overridden. They have never seen inside our house and have not seen any improvements eg pool etc. The site undervalues our property and I am wondering which real estate agent decided to list our house as I certainly did not give any Agent permission to do this and would love to know who it is. I want it removed and will continue to request, through various channels, that they remove it from their website. They did not even have the curtesy to respond to my email. I would be in so much trouble if I just took a photo of a property that was not mine and then published it so why can they? It is disgusting that they can get away with this and it is unfair to the property owner.