Sellers
What's my home worth?
Pull comparable sales and tax records for any Greater Houston address. It's a strong starting point, but a real number needs eyes on the property.
Listing data provided by the Houston Association of REALTORS®. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
An estimate is not an appraisal
Automated valuations don't know about your renovated kitchen, your lot position, or the foundation work you had done. When you're ready for a real number, I'll walk the property and prepare a full comparative market analysis, at no cost and no obligation.
Why an instant estimate is a starting point
The tool above pulls comparable sales and tax records for an address. It is a reasonable place to begin and a poor place to stop, for a specific structural reason.
Texas is a non-disclosure state: the price a home actually sold for is not recorded in public records. Verified sale prices exist only in the MLS, which is why an agent's access to sold data matters more here than it does in most of the country.
Automated valuation models are built largely on public records. In a state where the most important field, the sale price, is missing from those records, the model is estimating around a gap. That is why two portals can produce very different numbers for the same Houston home.
What a comparative market analysis adds
A CMA uses verified MLS sold records and adjusts for the things no model can see: your renovations, your lot position, the condition of the roof and systems, and how your home actually shows against the specific properties competing with it right now.
It also accounts for what the algorithm has no view of at all, including deed restrictions, MUD tax, flood history and the recent transaction pattern in your subdivision.
Common questions
Questions people actually ask
- How accurate are online home value estimates in Houston?
- Less accurate than in most of the country. Texas does not disclose sale prices publicly, so automated models are built on records that omit the single most important input. Treat an instant estimate as a range, not a number.
- What is a CMA and what does it cost?
- A comparative market analysis prices a home against verified MLS sold records, adjusted for condition, lot and finish. Esther prepares one at no cost and with no obligation.
- Should I price my home from the tax-assessed value?
- No. The appraisal district calculates assessed value for taxation, without access to actual sale prices, so it can sit well above or below market. Price from recent comparable sales instead.