"My house is worth a lot of dough...

Because my computer tells me so!"

Ahh...the wonders of modern technology! It used to be we had to seek the help of professionals and spend a lot of precious time reviewing confusing data to determine what our homes were worth. Today, all that has changed and now we can simply log onto a website and within seconds we have an answer. What's absolutely fantastic about this is that some computerized model takes so many factors into consideration so quickly to determine the value of real estate.

Someone must be driving around neighborhoods collecting data on all of the homes therein. There must be some sort of check list requiring a score for landscaping, condition of roof, appearance of neighboring properties, curb-appeal, paint, and all the many other details that prospective buyers quickly analyze when they look at a house for sale.

It's astonishing to consider how thoroughly this data is collected and then downloaded into the magic mainframe. Along with a physical analysis of each individual property someone must be doing extensive research into neighborhood and community development/zoning issues. Certainly the plans for vacant lots to be developed and/or adjoining and imminent housing developments would have an impact on the value of existing properties.

It puzzles me how this miraculous mainframe knows that one property has been completely remodeled with Italian marble in the bathrooms and granite counter tops in the kitchen, when a similar size home down the street hasn't had any interior upgrades since it was built in 1975. How in the world do they analyze the vast array of floor coverings, fixtures, appliances, etc. that aren't visible from the exterior of a home and yet have such a significant impact on its value?

This is where a professional real estate agent can be most helpful. An experienced, full-time professional looks at homes everyday and watches market activity closely. The industry demands serious real estate agents know about local weather patterns, planned developments, mortgage interest rates, and countless other components that can affect the value of any particular real estate.

As fantastic as the concept seems, the idea that all of the nuances that go into real estate sale statistics can be taken into account by a single computer to give consumers an accurate estimation of their home's value is a little like science fiction. It's all sort of like a typical episode of "Star Trek": Technology could always take the Starship Enterprise to distant planets but the "away team" had to physically beam down to the planet to physically explore and accurately assess it.

-Randy Steiger