Many real estate surfers are intrigued by web sites that give an instant Estimate of Value. "The public likes funky things like this," says Heath Coker, Reindex.com manager. "It seems that the surfing public is looking for this type of instant gratification, even though most real estate professionals know its is more of a gimick."
As more and more real estate companies and agents improve their web pages, REindex.com is creating ways to help those improved pages get more traffic. "We understand the issues the Internet has created for agents and brokers, because we list property and help buyers ourselves," comments Coker. "Our goal with REindex, is to help the web sites of those who actually do the listing and selling, to be found fast and easily. We also suggest ways to make those pages more useful, especially when we have an idea that works on our own webpages or in our own sales office."
For the last decade, the agents and brokers at Coker's small real estate company have used a formula when they are speaking in general terms about a property. Because they are in their market on a daily basis, they can easily modify the weight that variables have on their formula. Some of the variables they consider are list to sell percentage, days on the market, and assessed value when it is current.
"We simplified our equasion to the extreme," says Coker. "...but an agent that knows their market can use our formula to keep a customer on their site longer, and can probably get a conversation going with this (equation)." Coker cautions, that just like the other online valuation calculators, this estimator is in no way a replacement for a personal visit and true comparables provided by a full time real estate agent.
Because real estate will always be a "one-off" purchase item, math equations and computer programs will never produce an accurate value. Market conditions, property conditions, location, social prejudice or preference, and many other variables make correctly valuing a property more than math. Equations are only as good as their variables. There are variables for real estate that are only understood by humans.
Agents who'd like to add the code to their site can get a free code for at REindex.com/VECode.html
As the Internet is becoming cluttered, REindex is a trusted site to quickly find links for real estate. Relevance and validity on REindex.com, The Site Engine(sm) is a result of human review.