Properties

Real Estate Search Engines

We recommend www.MidMOHomeFinder.com because it is operated by the Columbia Board of REALTORS® and is up to date

Our choice for areas outside central Missouri is www.Realtor.com because it is also up to date

Don't trust the Zestimate® or the Trulia Estimate

Sites like Zillow and Trulia are poor estimators of real estate value in our area. They are on shaky ground when they purport to estimate property values based on sold prices. In some states, the sale price of a home is a matter of public record or easily calculated from transfer taxes. This is not the case in Missouri where such information is not captured in the process of recording deeds (except in some parts of the St. Louis and Kansas City metro areas). A small number of individuals may choose to report the prices that they pay to Trulia, Zillow or to the county assessor, but not enough do so for inferences from this information to be accurate in the Columbia market area. You don't have to take our word for it, see Zillow's own accuracy estimate for Missouri here. Notice that Boone County shows 1 star, meaning Zillow is unable to compute the accuracy of its estimate which is their lowest accuracy rating except for those cases where they can't generate an estimate at all. Also from that same table you can see that Zillow can't state that their estimate is even within 20% of the actual sales price. Our advice -- do not assume that you can rely on these estimates of value in your negotiations with sellers.

The best source of sales price information is a REALTOR®, contact Lisa or Jim, or a real estate appraiser -- professionals who have access to the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) where the vast majority of such transaction information is captured.