What a condo is worth, and who is saying so.
Three different things get called a valuation. They are not the same, they do not carry the same weight, and on this site each one says which it is on its first line. Here is the difference.
Arithmetic. A program picks recorded sales in the building and nearby that match on size, bedrooms, floor and date, works out a range per square foot and applies it to the unit. Nobody has looked at the unit. It cannot see condition, a remodel, the view, the stack, the HOA's finances, or what is pending but not yet recorded. The estimates on the big portals are this kind of number, and so are the automated valuations this site prepares on request.
What it is not: an opinion of value, an appraisal, or advice on what to list or offer at. No licence stands behind it and no one is accountable for it.
A judgement, signed. Tim McMullen, a licensed California real estate broker (CA DRE #02016832), chooses the comparables by hand — the same stack, the same floor plan, the sales that actually compare — adjusts for what the records cannot see, weighs what is pending and listed right now, and puts a name and a licence on the number. In California, saying what a specific home is worth is a licensed activity, and this is the licensed version. On this site it is called a Comp Report once Tim has signed it, and it is the number to take into an offer, a listing decision or a negotiation.
What it is not: an appraisal. A broker’s opinion is an agent’s professional judgement, not a regulated report.
A regulated report. Prepared by a state-licensed or certified appraiser to professional standards, usually because a lender, a court or an estate requires one. Neither of the numbers above replaces it.
How you get one: your lender orders it when you finance a purchase or a refinance; for a probate, a divorce or a tax matter, an attorney or an accountant will say when one is needed. Tim can tell you what to expect but does not prepare appraisals.
Which number is which, and where it appears.
| Where | What the number is | Who stands behind it |
|---|---|---|
| A building page or a unit’s record | No value at all. Recorded sales, the building’s own $/ft² history by floor and stack, counts and medians with the sample behind them. | County records and the MLS |
| An automated valuation page | A range worked out from recorded sales the engine picked. Prepared on request, kept on its own private page, and labelled “Automated valuation” in its first line and its footer. | The engine. Not reviewed by an agent. |
| A Comp Report | A broker’s opinion of value: comparables chosen by hand, adjusted, signed. Prepared for the owner or buyer who asked; also the signed opinion of value on every Investor Exchange listing. | Tim McMullen, CA DRE #02016832 |
| A Make Me Move number | The owner’s own price — what would make them sell. Shown as theirs, to account holders only. | The owner who set it |
| The AI property review, the net sheet, a comparison | The member’s own picks and arithmetic: recorded sales they chose, costs they entered. The pages say so, and none of them states what the unit is worth. | The member who built it |
| Ask the market (the assistant) | Facts, arithmetic and navigation. Asked what a specific unit is worth, it says that is Tim’s call and shows the way to ask. Building-level facts — how owners in a building have done at the median — it can state. | — |
We do not publish an estimated value on any building page or unit record. The only numbers attached to a specific unit live on their own private pages, and each one says, in the first line, which of the three it is. The full sourcing is on the methodology page.
A number with a name on it is a different product.
Portal estimates are everywhere and they are free because nobody is accountable for them. A broker’s opinion of value is signed, and the person who signed it will stand in a negotiation behind it. We keep the two apart so that you always know which one you are reading, and so that the free arithmetic on this site is never mistaken for the licensed judgement it is not.
The Comp Report is free and needs no listing. Tim McMullen, Broker, CA DRE #02016832.