Cool New Website: Cyberhomes

Thanks to The Front Steps for making me aware of Cyberhomes, a new (to me, at least) website put together by Fidelity National Financial that allows free access to their vast database of property information. Like Zillow, The site will provide an estimate of the value of a home. I don’t find these estimates to be particularly useful or accurate; however, it doesn’t stop there.

I tried typing in 1030 Sunnyhills over in Oakland – a property we were thinking of writing an offer on but have decided to pass up. Cyberhomes came back with some info on the listing as well a map with an estimate of the value of each home within a few blocks. From here, I was able to set up a free account and quickly create an unbelievably cool (I realize I should probably get out more) report with all kinds of information that would be very useful in evaluating the home, including: data on 10 recent comparable sales (complete with map and details on the comps); data and graphs on homes and sales in the same zip code; charts showing various market indicators (unemployment, building permits, rental vacancy rates) and their impact on the prices of similar properties; and information on neighborhood demographics. While some of this information is available elsewhere, Cyberhomes does a nice job of pulling it all together and will make a very nice companion to Redfin in my property search.

Though it’s pretty easy to create your own report, you’re welcome to check out a PDF the one I created here.