August 21 2017
AVMs have been a integral part of real estate technology since Zillow launched the Zestimate. Controversy seems to follow AVMs wherever they pop up, so we wanted to take a moment to lay out the pros and cons of using an AVM in your real estate business.
First things first. What is an AVM? AVM stands for "Automated Valuation Model." It is a program that automatically analyzes various data points to produce an estimate on the current value of a home or property. Most often, online visitors type in a property address and the engine uses linear and multiple regressions to form an estimate of that property's market value. Data analyzed can include the age of a home, market values, trends, historical data, property features and more.
Real estate companies often use AVMs to capture the contact information of potential home sellers. Home sellers are valuable leads in the real estate industry and the assumption is that people looking to learn the value of a home might want to sell that home. Many solution providers sell versions of AVM, from CoreLogic to Home Junctions. Companies take those AVMs, put them on their website or page and try to identify people in their area who will likely enter the real estate market.
myAVM is the new AVM from Onboard. It compiles our robust data base, including 38 million transactions (nearly 450,000 added monthly), tax assessment and liability information, recent home sales, market insights and more to create an informed, data-driven estimate. myAVM is interactive, so users can indicate the condition of the property and the value will adjust accordingly. This helps create a more nuanced experience and reinforce the fact that the AVM is just an estimate.
Finally, myAVM is inviting. It presents this important information in pleasing, fun way. Most AVMs are fairly straightforward - like reading a book report. myAVM is interactive and modern. It's almost... fun.
To view the original article, visit the Onboard Informatics blog.