Onthehouse implements GUESSTIMATES

3 minute read

For the first time in Australia, onthehouse.com.au has just released their automated valuation estimate solution on almost every property within Australia called ‘Guesstimates’.

‘Guesstimates’ are calculated using the Residex valuation technology, and are provided to consumers for free, along with other detailed and analytic information about properties in Australia.

CEO and Managing Director, Michael Fredericks states;

‘The provision of this powerful tool is another step in assisting Australians make informed decisions about property.’

But ‘Guesstimates’ are not just for the public, Michael further states;

‘The referral of inevitable queries by the public surrounding this content to local experts, our real estate agency clients, supports our mission to establish a more efficient and engaged marketplace for the consumption of traditional and innovative digital real estate products and services’

Located within the property values section on the website, onthehouse.com.au also encourages members to interact with ‘Guesstimates’ and adjust the values by providing additional information about their property.

Product Manager, Melissa D’Alonzo suggests that the onthehouse.com.au model of supplying the ‘Guesstimates’ solution and other free real estate content to the public is consistent with the leading online consumer portal in the United States, Zillow.com, which recently listed on the NASDAQ.

Zillow has recently overtaken previous market leading real estate portals, Realtor.com (online classifieds only), as the most visited real estate site within the US market.

The ‘Guesstimates’ are generated using the Residex valuation technology which is utilised and relied on by some of Australia’s leading banks.

Having said this, Melissa is keen to point out that the estimated valuations have been called ‘Guesstimates’ for a reason.

‘The point of “Guesstimates” is to provide useful content and tools to the consumer. The valuation technology behind the “Guesstimates” is traditionally used for bank valuation purposes, which is different to how a home is valued for sale. To meaningfully price a property for sale, more in-depth information and local knowledge is required – this is where real estate agents and professionals, as local experts, have skill sets that are invaluable.’

And ‘Guesstimates’ is just the first step. Melissa went on to say that the goal at onthehouse.com.au is to continue to provide real estate agents, property professionals and the general public with as much information about individual properties across the nation as possible.

‘We also want to keep growing this information resource (onthehouse.com.au) as the biggest and most vast source of information for Australian property’

And growing it is, with onthehouse.com.au recently reporting aggressive growth in web traffic over the past 12 months. They indicated there were almost 600,000 users on the online consumer platform (excluding agent sites) and over 1.2 million users on the Online Consumer Division.

It’s fantastic to see innovation and enhancements by Onthehouse as these widgets will provide a greater user experience for property seekers. But could this create headache for agents if vendors are unhappy with their Guesstimate?