We tell you about a new app that is available to help you work out exactly how much your property is worth.
Transcript:
Kevin:  There is no doubt it’s a national obsession for people to want to know about real estate, what’s happening, what the sales are like in their area, but more particularly, the question that I’m asked the most often is “What is my place worth?” I can tell you now that there is an app that will do exactly that for you. All you have to do is go to the app store or even into Google and type in “What’s my home worth?” and you’ll see an app there called Homingin.co. It was developed by my next guest from the USA, Todd Miller.
Good day, Todd. Thanks for your time.
Todd:  Thank you very much, Kevin.
Kevin:  I understand that even though you developed this for your own marketplace – you’re an agent in America – to put you in touch with people who wanted to know what their place is worth, it’s now gone viral; it’s across the States. But I’m surprised that you are actually getting people out of Australia as well who are responding to this. Has that surprised you, Todd?
Todd:  Yes, it’s a big surprise. We made this app for the US to let consumers find out what their house is worth and get a pretty accurate value doing it, and what we found is people in Canada, the UK, and Australia are using the app.
Kevin:  I guess most people want to know, what their place is worth but there are some big differences between how real estate works in America and how it works in Australia. Have you been able to overcome those? Is it going to be user-friendly for us in Australia?
Todd:  Sure. It doesn’t really do anything with the real estate transaction or involve how real estate is sold; all it does is it’s a tool to let you source some information by yourself to an agent. The app lets you take pictures of your house and enter any notes, anything you think is special about the house. Of course, you put the address in there, and the agents can pull the public data, they can look at the pictures you’ve put in, and then they can give you a better idea of what your house is worth.
The great thing is if you have five or six agents in your postal code, you can get five or six responses independently that can all tell you what they think it’s worth. If you ever want to call one of them with more questions, you get all of their info, but they don’t have the ability to contact you.
Kevin:  That was going to be my next question because I can hear a lot of people saying, “Oh, no. The last thing I’d want is six agents calling me.” So they are not going to get my contact information?
Todd:  No. You can use the app anonymously as a consumer. We certainly don’t give it to them. We’ve done hundreds in the US and I’ve never had a consumer call me and say, “Hey, a bunch of real estate agents have been calling me since I used your app.”
Kevin:  Okay. But they will obviously get my address; they have to have that because that’s how they are going to do the valuation. Have you got any figures on how close some of these valuations have been?
Todd:  We’re actually surprised that the agents tend to come in very close to each other, which tells me that they are doing a good job looking at comparable properties and getting a market view of what a buyer might pay versus the automated valuations that you get online that sometimes don’t take into account specific features of your house, your exact neighborhood, your lot, and all of that.
Kevin:  Okay. Is there a price? Do I have to pay for the app at all, Todd?
Todd:  No, it’s a free app. You can register or use it anonymously. You take pictures, enter your address, enter notes, and then you just sit back and you’ll get notified as agents respond with a value and how they came up with that.
Kevin:  I’ve used this, both as an agent and as a consumer, and I found it to be really, really easy to use. It’s a very simple app. It’s nice and clean and works extremely well.
The app again is called Homingin.co, and you’ll find that in the app store, or as I said at the start of this interview, just Google “What’s my home worth?” Look for that app, and you’ll see it there. It’s a free download.
Great service, Todd. Thank you for joining us, and great to hear that the world is getting smaller as we start to come together.
Todd:  It’s getting smaller but at least people are going to know what their house is actually worth.
Kevin:  Indeed. Thanks for joining us, Todd Miller. Thanks for your time.
Todd:  Thank you, Kevin.