Posted by Rich-CA on June 28, 2008 at 22:02:55:
is always a guess. The best numbers come from looking at similar properties (as similar as possible) actually sold or under contract recently (as close to 30 days as you can get it, but you do need several examples). This is similar to what an appraiser would do, except they have a lot more detail in their appraisal than this.
I usually throw out “stinkers” from the data set, so unusually low and high values get tossed as long as I have five remaining data points.
Market value is what someone is willing (and able) to pay for a property, which is why it is so hard to pin down.