Everyone else hit it right on the head, Quizzle is not an AVM or specific real estate tool, its a home financial tool that provides an AVM. Brian is right it wont take off as an AVM or real estate tool. Especially since you have to go through a long signup process to get the same information you could get else ware quicker.

Quizzle will not be the shizzle in AVMizle land (sorry had to do it…Brian made me)

Quizzle, however, isn’t really a home value tool. True, the site gives you a free AVM, but there’s a whole lot more to it than just that. Quizzle is more of a home and money tool, and knowing one’s home value is an important part of expanding that broader know-how.

The reason I say that is because AVM’s are terrible estimates of current value – making it very easy for Realtor’s to demonstrate why buyers and sellers need to work with a professional.

Why are AVM’s terrible:

1. They are based on sales data from public records which lags the actual deal by 6 weeks to 3 months due to time for escrow, county delays, abstracting, compiling, and analyzing. And there is no indication of seller credits that affect real prices.

2. Data lags are made worse by the need for multiple comps – this can easily result in a price that is 6 months or more behind the market.

3. Insufficient property characteristics are available to determine price. In my neighborhood we have the identical home on a park, a lake, and on the CA Delta. Delta properties are worth double park properties and there is NO way for an AVM to figure that out. So park properties are significantly overvalued, and Delta properties undervalued. This isn’t an exclusive problem. “Bad” neighborhoods are often close to “good” neighborhoods – current AVM’s have no way to tell. Nice homes can sit right next to dumps. Nuff said.

I’ve analyzed most of the available AVM’s, even some that claim to use MLS data, and have found them all insufficient to accurately and consistently estimate price.

THAT SAID — I AM A HUGE FAN OF AVMS’s, for the following reasons:

1. They create conversation among consumers around house values that create interest in our profession and give Realtors a perfect opportunity to demonstrate their market knowledge and value.

2. They are very useful in doing initial research. For homebuyers to find neighborhoods that may be in their price range. And for investors, like myself, to quickly evaluate foreclosure and other opportunities to narrow the field and focus on the best opportunities.

3. Cruising around neighborhoods online looking at prices is just plain fun – even if the values aren’t perfect.

Sean