There was a time when appraisers would not consider foreclosures as adequate comparable sales, but the market was different then. Today, the volume of foreclosures and short sales may lead appraisers to use those sales to determine a home’s value if the comparable sale was on the market long enough to be exposed to a significant number of buyers. That is not to say that other elements are not factored in, such as the condition of the property, curb appeal, amenities, the local market conditions, and a good sampling of the most recent comparable sales.

While using automated valuations, or AVMs, from sites like eppraisal.com® and Cyberhomes™ can be a good starting point, getting a true property appraisal relies on the in-depth knowledge of a licensed appraiser who understands on-the-ground factors. If you are working with a lender, it’s important that you know they obtained an appraisal from a licensed appraiser. Don’t just take their word for it. Ask to see a copy of the appraisal.

If you are interested in obtaining an appraisal on your own, you can search for a licensed appraiser on your area in the eppraisal.com Professional Directory.

We are pleased to announce the launch of a more comprehensive home valuation and real estate information site.

The new site provides better visibility into home values and local market conditions, including:

• home valuations from Zillow.com® and Cyberhomes™,
• more comprehensive school data from Education.com,
• local job listings from CareerBuilder.com™,
• and your city’s “walkability,” provided by Walk Score™.

Additionally, real estate professionals are featured more prominently through an upgraded “Find a Pro” service, providing easier access to local appraisers, home inspectors, and real estate agents (mortgage brokers coming soon).

Please take some time to browse the redesigned home valuation site to see the enhancements, and let us know what you think.

ORLANDO, Fla., March 5, 2009 —Today eppraisal.com released its National Real Estate Market Analysis report for 182 markets across the continental U.S. This report, which tracks median sales price of residential homes, compares data on homes sold in August 2008 through October 2008 with homes sold in November 2008 through January 2009.

There are no surprises in the data with 89 percent of the markets tracked by eppraisal.com seeing a drop in the median sales price of homes sold between November ‘08 and January ‘09. The hardest hit areas were in Ohio, Michigan, and South Carolina where some cities saw more than a 20 percent drop in the median sales price. In Akron, Ohio, Toledo, Ohio, Sandusky, Ohio, and Dayton, Ohio, home prices were down 37 percent, 26 percent, 24.4 percent, and 23.6 percent respectively. In Michigan the Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills area saw a 29.4 percent decline to a median home price of $60,000. In South Carolina, Florence saw a 22.6 percent drop in the median sales price to $82,036. Sumter declined by 21.2 percent to $85,000.

A few smaller markets in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Georgia saw increases in median sales price. For example, the Burlington, N.C., market saw the greatest increase of all the markets with a 13 percent increase in the median sales price to $130,000. Another double digit increase in the median sales price occurred in State College, Penn., which saw a 12.5 percent increase to $180,000. Outside of those two markets there were no other double digit increases in median sales price; however, Rome, Ga., and Gainesville, Ga., came close with increases of 9.7 percent to $214,000 and 9.3 percent to $107,100.

See a complete list all areas tracked by eppraisal.com.

Your time has arrived to get the house you have dreamed about in the location of your choice. With the state of the current market, buyers can negotiate better prices and terms on homes that have been on the market for an extended period due to a number of reasons, most leading back to the economy.  Sellers need to liquidate in order to make ends meet, prices are down, and interest rates low.  So here are a few tools to help with your search.

•  Use the eppraisal.com City Snapshot search to get more information about the area you are looking in, such as information about local schools, lifestyle, and market conditions.

•  If you’re looking to relocate and need a little guidance on what location would be a good fit, let Hoodeo help you find a neighborhood that best fits your lifestyle.

•  Now that you know where to look you can take a drive and use Trulia’s iPhone Application to find open houses near you on the fly.

Take your time and look for what you truly want. With so many houses on the market and limited buyers in this bad economy, you can have the pick of the litter. This is the perfect time to be in the market for a home.

ORLANDO, Fla., November 6, 2008 — Today eppraisal.com (http://www.eppraisal.com) released their National Market Analysis Report for the three months ending September 2008. Of the 188 market areas tracked across the U.S., 131 markets (or 69.7 percent) saw a decline in median home values, which is up from 43.6 percent. This further decline in home values continues the downward trend seen in the past six months.

While most markets in the previous report showed signs of recovery, it is not so this time around. Only seven of the 38 states tracked by eppraisal.com saw net gains in median values. These seven states – which include Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina, and Tennessee – all saw moderate gains. Of the negative markets California and Florida top the list with the greatest declines in home values. In California, all 28 markets tracked by eppraisal.com saw over a 1 percent decline in median home values. In Florida, only three of the 20 Florida markets tracked by eppraisal.com saw an increase. The three Florida markets that saw increases were Panama City, Palm Coast, and Palm Bay, which saw increases of 3.7 percent, 1.2 percent and 0.1 percent respectively.

South Carolina, Ohio, and Michigan all stood out with markets that saw increases. Sandusky, Ohio, had the highest gain this period with over 15 percent gain in median home values to $103,530. In South Carolina, Florence and Sumter both saw increases over 9 percent with Florence increasing by 15.8 percent to $110,000 and Sumter increasing by 9.7 percent to $107,000. Michigan had the most markets with the highest increases with five markets in the top ten. In Michigan the following markets saw increases: Niles-Benton Harbor up 9.5 percent, Bay City up 9.4 percent, Lansing up 8.7 percent, Battle Creek up 7.5 percent, and Detroit up 6.2 percent.

The eppraisal.com National Market Analysis Report is attached. It shows the median sales price of existing single-family home sales in the three months ending October of 2008 along with the percent change from the prior three months.

See a complete list of rankings.