Summary
Leandra Figueroa is a Valuation Analyst at Roofstock, a turnkey online marketplace for buying and selling rental investment properties. Day in and day out, she determines values for properties across a geographically diverse portfolio.
HouseCanary’s valuation tools and nationwide dataset give Leandra and her team deep insights to value homes remotely and to review reports by local appraisers. Using Property Explorer, Roofstock’s valuation analysts can access contextual data that rivals local expertise.
The Challenge
Roofstock’s Valuation team of three values about 80 homes a day from their office in Oakland, California. “We want to be sure that the list price makes sense so that it’s marketable,” says Leandra. “Say a property’s in contract, and the local appraisal comes back $20,000 less than where we thought the value was. As an appraiser I can pick apart an appraisal pretty well, but that’s when we want to dial in again
The Solution
Property Explorer from HouseCanary extends Leandra’s ability to confidently value properties and review appraisals. As a licensed appraiser with our dataset at her fingertips, Leandra gains more neighborhood context than most local professionals. “It’s super easy to see the appraisal report,” she says, “and then plug their comps into Property Explorer and see, ‘ok, well that one is seven miles away. That’s why it just doesn’t make sense!’ Sometimes they’re right and we were wrong, but it’s rare.”
The Results
“Using Property Explorer, it’s like boom-boom-boom, it’s all there. I choose my comps, I download my Excel sheet, and then I’m on to the next one. Because it’s so fast, and all the data’s there, I can value a property within minutes,” Leandra reports. “We’ve started really dialing in: using the HouseCanary interactive automated valuation model, finding the comps that made sense, and having a more accurate opinion of value.”
Valuing Investment Properties Remotely
Like most online property sales platforms, Roofstock values and certifies homes remotely. “Clients range from mom-and-pop sized property owners to large investors with thousands of properties across the country,” says Valuation Analyst Leandra Figueroa. Roofstock’s broad reach means that Leandra needs to navigate markets nationwide as if she were there. Property Explorer gives Leandra instant access to richer local data than the average local appraiser can access, all in one user-friendly interface. “I’m able to filter, and see photos of comps, and make the photos large and small, and draw my map. It’s all there.”
Leandra depends on HouseCanary daily for data and analytics including:
- Property values
- Highly similar comparables
- Value distributions
- Rental values
- Rental yields
- School data
