An automated estimate is a fine place to start and a poor place to stop. It has never been inside your house, and it cannot read the parcel-level tax bill, which in Riverside County can carry Mello Roos assessments that move the monthly by hundreds of dollars. I walk the house, price it against what actually closed, and put the reasoning in writing.
An online estimate is useful for a rough bracket and poor for the specific decision. In Riverside County the gap between the two is wider than in most metros, because the county line, the school district line, and the Mello Roos boundary all live at the parcel level and the model does not see them.
A model sees bedroom count and square footage. It cannot see whether your kitchen was renovated well and your primary bath was not, whether your basement finish was permitted, or which way your lot faces. I walk the house before I put a number on it, because those are the differences that move a price.
In Riverside, a Mello Roos community facilities district assessment can add hundreds of dollars to the monthly on newer subdivisions, and buyers respond to that number rather than to the base rate alone. Unincorporated county parcels also pay a different combination of levies than parcels inside city limits. An automated estimate treats those as the same market. I pull the parcel record.
A model gives you a number and no reasoning, so there is nothing to push back on. What comes back from me is the range, the comparable sales I used, every adjustment I made and why I made it, and a short memo on where I would price. You can disagree with any line of it, which is the point.
A few details about the property, how to reach you, and your timeline. Five minutes.
Jonathan walks the house himself. Usually about an hour at the property, at your convenience.
Closed and active comparable sales from CRMLS, the Riverside County Assessor's parcel record for your address, the actual school and jurisdiction assignment, and any Mello Roos CFD that touches the parcel.
It arrives by email: a value range, the comparable sales I used, my adjustments and reasoning, and a short pricing memo. If you want to talk it through, say so and we will.
Each report includes the value range, a comparable-sales table, our adjustments and reasoning, a one-page strategy memo, and a market summary specific to your micro-neighborhood. The pages below are an illustration, not a client's report.
Two of the ten comparable sales I used sit inside a Mello Roos CFD that adds meaningfully to the monthly. Adjusting for the CFD gap, the in-district discount here is running about -1.3%,which is the largest single adjustment in this report.
We would recommend pricing at $755,000 rather than reaching for the top of the range. The two comparables above $850,000 both had newer builds and larger lots. Priced here, this house is the obvious value on the street rather than the one buyers use to justify another…
What you enter here is used to prepare your valuation and to follow up about it. Nothing else needs to happen with it.
This comes to Jonathan. It is stored in the email and contact tools used to run the practice, and it is not sold or passed to third parties for their own marketing.
Yes. There is no charge for the valuation and no requirement that you list with me afterward. If you decide to sell later I would like the call, that is the whole business model, but the report is yours either way.
That is common, and it is fine. A written valuation is useful for estate planning, refinancing, a divorce settlement, or simply knowing where you stand. There is no expectation that you list.
I do not sell your information and I do not hand it to third parties for their own marketing. It is stored in the email and contact tools I use to run the practice, and it is used to prepare your valuation and to follow up about it.
A Zestimate is a model, and the model has never been inside your house. It cannot see condition, permit history, or which way your lot faces. In Riverside it also cannot read the parcel-level tax record, which is where Mello Roos assessments and city-versus-county levies actually show up, and those can move the monthly by hundreds of dollars. What I send you is a range with the comparable sales, the adjustments and the reasoning attached, so you can check the work.
There is no charge and no obligation to list. Plenty of people ask because they are refinancing, settling a trust, or curious what the last few years did to their number. That is a good enough reason.
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