Realtor Brian Block uses analytics regularly to figure out what a house is worth, whether it’s situated in a desirable community, and how a neighborhood might affect your property value.
We’ll talk with Block, managing broker at RE/MAX Allegiance, in McLean, Va., about what analytics can reveal when setting a value on your home, in an hour-long e-chat session today at 2:00 p.m. ET.
I’ve blogged previously about how Block uses analytics to evaluate the kinds of properties available and their selling prices. In a phone interview earlier this week, he shared more details on how analytics are helping him optimize sales -- an outcome any business, large or small, can appreciate.
The realtor uses VisiStat, a cloud-based Web analytics and customer intelligence platform, to track visitors to his site. Block said he notes which neighborhoods people search most often -- and so presumably find most desirable -- and other data like the amount they’re willing to spend. This information helps him make decisions about the likelihood a house will sell for an owner’s asking price and may influence whether or not he approaches an owner about selling a home or decides to take on certain properties.
Beyond his Web analytics, Block uses data from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), a national real estate database identifying properties in foreclosure or selling at short sale, size and type of home, and average and median sale prices.
Using a tool called RealEstate Business Intelligence, he turns the MLS data into graphs for his Website, providing real-time updates for each region and generating heat maps showing real estate activity.
He compares his site’s analytics with MLS market data run through his real estate software to get a good picture of which properties will likely sell most easily and at what price.
He admits some homes present a greater challenge. “Every property is unique,” he told me.
A spectacular waterfront property or one with an unusual and breathtaking view of nearby Washington might defy comparison to other local properties, he noted. However, he maintains that careful analysis of similar features in a number of other properties in his database often helps him arrive at a reasonable price.
“I think you always have to go back to some kind of data,” says Block.
Let us know what you think about using analytics to set home values in the comment section below, and please remember to join us for today’s e-chat here.
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