We've Gone Off the MLS

There's been some questions about the fact that we're no longer on the MLS. The listing did go off the MLS on August 16, 2010. With the start of the school year, we've decided to go off the market, since we have a small child and we're finding it hard to keep the house neat for showings and expect it will only worsen with the start of the school year.

If for some reason you're still interested in the home, please contact the listing agent Martin Garcia at Redfin and he can be reached at 408-634-5117 and he can relay a message to us.

Home Value Estimates

If you use any of the estimate sites like cyberhomes.com, eappraisal.com or zillow.com you have to be careful since most of these are basing the home price on 3 bedrooms and 3 baths, rather than the 5 bedrooms, 3 baths the home is currently built out as. (See the previous post on 5 bedrooms, 3 baths). For example, if you looked at cyberhomes.com on August 2, 2010, you'd see they give an estimated value of $765,655 for 23 Linden Drive. This would make you think that the house isn't a true bargain.

But you'd be wrong. Cyberhomes.com actually gives you ability to change the number of bedrooms on a home to re-evaluate what the estimate should be. The simple act of changing the home to 5 bedrooms raises Cyberhomes.com's appraisal to a whopping $891,507. You can further refine the estimate by adding in items like the recent kitchen and bath remodels, which would further increase the estimated value.

Zillow.com has a similar ability and if you visit the site, you'll noticed an agent's estimate of $929,673 which takes into account all the upgrades; rather than the $792,500 that Zillow has as a base estimate.

So don't take the estimate at face value. Do a little research and see what the true value of the home should be.