By: Liz Moore
I have an elderly aunt in the Bay Area of San Francisco who is thinking about moving into a senior community. Before I reached out to find a great REALTOR in her market to begin exploring selling her home, I googled “average prices in Walnut Creek California” and here was what I got:
Wow. If I were simply a consumer trying to pinpoint market value, I would see answers ranging from $777,000 to $1.1M. That’s over a $300,000 swing! True, there is a difference between median and average, and also a difference between pending and sold…but, still – that’s a LOT of potential cash left on the table if an unwitting homeowner were to go it alone.
There is a HUGE difference between artificial intelligence and “live” intelligence. Pricing a property is tricky business, and even more so in our current volatile market. Relying on an algorithm like Zillow or Redfin misses all the nuances of the local market that only an experienced agent can bring to the table. Even then, it takes hours of study and thoughtful comparison and adjustment to do a thorough job, because every sold property is unique. Even for me with almost 40 years of experience in real estate, I wouldn’t begin to be able to accurately determine fair market value in a different state (and if I pretended that I could, it would be irresponsible).
Want to hear something really interesting? I logged into ChatGPT (an artificial intelligence source) and asked for the average sales price in Walnut Creek, California. Guess what it returned? “to obtain accurate and reliable information on the average sales price in Walnut Creek, California, I would recommend that you contact a local real estate professional.”
Hmmmm. Pretty intelligent 😊.
Are you looking for the fair market value of your home? Email me your address!