Everyone prices houses from photos. We do it on walks and while scrolling listings, and we are usually wrong by a wide margin, because the things that set a house’s price are mostly the things a photo leaves out. It helps to know which is which.
What the street view shows
A good exterior photo carries real information.
- Style and era. A steep gable and an arched doorway say 1930s Tudor revival. A long low roofline says mid-century ranch. The era tells you about ceiling heights, room sizes, wiring and plumbing before you step inside.
- Materials. Brick, stone, wood siding or stucco, and what kind of roof.
- Upkeep. Fresh paint, a straight roofline, clean gutters and tended planting suggest an owner who maintains things. Peeling trim and a sagging porch suggest deferred work, and deferred work is rarely confined to the outside.
- Rough scale. The frontage and the number of storeys put the house in a size bracket, though a wide one.
- Setting. Mature trees, the houses either side and the street itself.
That is enough to say what kind of house it is. It is not enough to say what it is worth.
What the photo hides
Three facts do most of the pricing, and none of them is in the picture.
Where it is. The same house in two neighbourhoods a few miles apart can differ in price by a multiple. Schools, commute, crime, flood risk and the street’s own reputation are all bound up in the address.
How big it is. Sales are compared on living area, lot size, bedrooms and bathrooms. A photo of the front cannot tell a compact two-bedroom from a house with a large rear extension.
What it is like inside. Kitchens, bathrooms, floors, windows, the furnace, the electrical panel and the foundation are where the money has or has not been spent.
A photo also knows nothing about permits, liens, easements or anything else recorded against the property.
How houses are actually valued
An appraiser or an agent prices a house from comparable sales: recent sales of similar houses nearby, adjusted for the differences in size, condition and features. The closer the comparables are in distance, time and type, the better the answer. Online estimates do a statistical version of the same thing from public records, and they are weakest where records are thin or the house is unusual.
All of these start from the address. That is why a photo alone produces a wide range, and why the range tightens quickly once you add a zip code and a square footage.
What an honest estimate from a photo looks like
Worth was shown a painted brick Tudor cottage from the street. It named the style and the era, gave a range from $450K to $750K, and put its confidence at 40%, which it labels low. The answer stated the assumption it had been forced to make, about 1,500 to 2,000 square feet in a desirable urban neighbourhood, and one of its notes read: value varies widely by city and neighbourhood.
That is the right shape for an answer built on a picture. It is a wide range with the reason for the width spelled out, and it tells you the next question to answer.
How to use one
Treat a photo estimate as the opening of a conversation, not the end of one.
- Photograph the house and read the assumptions as carefully as the number.
- Correct them. In the Worth app, add the zip code, the living area and the year built, and the estimate is worked out again.
- Before money moves, get comparable sales from an agent, and for a loan or an insurance policy, an appraisal from someone licensed to give one.
One courtesy, since a house is someone’s home: a photo can show a house number, a car and the people on the porch. Frame the house and leave the rest out.