Frequently Asked Questions

What are automated valuations?

Automated valuations are computer-calculated values of residential properties at a point in time, produced from special systems using sophisticated techniques on very large amounts of sales and property data. The underlying database is constantly updated with current information, generally collected from various public registries which are updated every time properties are bought and sold. The valuations change constantly to reflect the most recent information.

These systems are called AVM's, (Automated Valuation Models), and they have been in use for many years in the financial services marketplace, where they have proven to be very useful in all aspects of residential lending. Lenders like them because they are fast, independent and objective. In addition to providing valuations, they can also provide detailed market analysis which would be virtually impossible to produce manually.

Why is my report property value so different from what I was expecting? / How accurate is Home Valuations Canada?

The AVM system uses sales data from your neighbourhood that are pulled from a number of sources. Using this data the system calculates your property value. However, sometimes there will be a property sale in your neighbourhood that will fall outside the norm. The AVM system tries to compensate for these occasional irregularities, however sometimes these spikes in neighbourhood sales will skew your property value.

What are the comparable sales?

The comparable sales are property sales that have occurred in your area. You can use these comparatives to assess the validity of your own assessed property value.

Why are there only 3 comparable sales on my report?

Although there are many more comparable sales available in the data used by the AVM system, only three are displayed because this is a good statistical representation of the market activity in your neighbourhood.

Why are my comparables over a month old? / How often is Home Valuations Canada data updated?

The data provider that Home Valuations Canada uses updates its sales data monthly. Consequently, if you run a report just prior to the data being updated, you may notice that some of your comparable sales seem to be out of date by a few weeks.

Why couldn't HomeValuationsCanada process my address?

There are a number of reasons why you might see the message "Unfortunately Home Valuations Canada could not valuate this property at this time", including but not limited to:

• There was not enough sales data in your neighbourhood to accurately calculate a value for your property
• All of the comparables selected for your property are older than 6 months.
• The property is not a supported residential property type. HomeValuationsCanada.com will value the following property types:
  
  
  • attached and detached homes
  • link homes
  • townhouses
  • row houses
  • duplexes
  • triplexes
  • condominiums
  
  typical exclusions include:
  
  
  • non residential
  • boarding houses
  • homes with more than one family
  • cottages and other seasonal or recreational dwellings
    
    

Why couldn't HomeValuationsCanada find my address?

There are a number of reasons why you may not be able to find your address. Some of them include:

• New construction
• No database entry for address
• Not in the coverage area
• Malformed address

If you cannot find your address and you think that we should have it then contact us and let us know.

The system did not ask for any information about my home. How can it know how much it is worth?

Our system only needs an address and postal code. We do not ask you any other information such as property type, number of bathrooms, etc because all the information we need to valuate the property we already have in our database.

If you have installed a pool or made major upgrades in your home then just keep that in mind when looking at your final report. We will produce a range in which we believe that your home is valued inside. It is up to you to place your home within that range. This will further increase the accuracy of the report.

What data sources does this system use?

The HomeValuationsCanada automated model uses large amounts of actual sales data for its calculations. We gather this data from the numerous land and registry organizations across Canada. It makes up the single largest database of its kind in the country.

How does a Home Owners Report compare to a physical appraisal?

A Home Owner's Report from HomeValuationsCanada is not the same as a physical appraisal. It compares the subject home to others like it around the area and depending on recent trends puts a calculated range and value for your property.

These reports are not meant to replace a physical appraisal, but rather to give you an accurate estimation of a home's worth in a matter of seconds without the use of a real estate agent. It provides a great deal of useful information that can help anyone make a better real estate decision.

This system is very accurate. Major banks and financial institutions in Canada use a slightly modified version of this service for financing purposes. If they are confident in its accuracy then you can be too.

This report is excellent to run over time, say every 3 months, to track the amount of equity accumulating in your home.