RP Data vs APM Price Finder

Did you choose one @FirstIP?

I am tossing up which one to sign up for, if any.

I'm not actually sure how it will assist me and judging by this thread, if it's not a free trial it's not worth having!

 

Hi @Tim & Chrissy,

I got free trials of both. I went with a paid membership to pricefinder and still have a free trial of RP data. There's pros and cons of each:

Pricefinder

• Pages load more slowly
• Less information (eg rental $ and dates is not always there) but the data that is there is more accurate
• Easier for generating reports on local sales data (sales radial search)
• You can pull up other properties in another tab, whereas with rp data the other properties have to be pulled up individually in the tab you're currently using and then you need to press the back button to return to the previous screen
• It can be hard to find properties on price finder through the quick search feature; sometimes you need to use the full search feature
• Has far superior owner info: current and historic

RP data

• Has more photos of the properties, including historical photos and floor plans
  
• The information it contains is not always accurate - eg a block I know to have 4 units in it is listed as having 5 units; 2BR units listed as being 1BR, inaccurate rental data ($ and date), incorrect photos - eg a house I rented in the past is listed as a unit and even has photos of this mysterious unit. Makes me question the veracity of their other info.
• Pages load quickly
• Fewer clicks to log into the site.
• Previous owner info is not provided, only current owner info

I am currently looking at properties on both sites to complete the picture. The things I find are:

• Sales data (dates and $) are generally the same on both sites but RP data has many more photos, including historic photos so that you can see if there's been renovations and what kind
  
• Rental data can be missing on pricefinder, and if it's on RP data, the $ and dates are not always accurate (if I pick something where I know from experience when it rented and for how much) but I use it as a guide
  
• RP data is sometimes not accurate in terms of # rooms and bathrooms etc so I compare it with pricefinder

 

Oh, and price finder has nearby planning and DA info.

 

I am currently "researching" on a townhouse property. In looking at various website then I get the following "valuations" for the property:

Onthehouse - $374k to $458k
RPData Corelogic - $440k to $550k
Domain - $335k to $440k
Ripehouse $445k

The property is advertised at approx. $350k (which IMO is an accurate figure based on recent (2015) resales of identical properties (same size, design, outlook, internal fittings, etc) in the same complex .

I suspect that some of the valuations are based on the previous overinflated sale price of the property (2006) with an allowance for price growth in the area from 2006 to date.

Tony

 

I've paid for once-off RPData and other valuations, and also correlated online from PriceFinder and Ripehouse subscriptions.

Sorry to @Ripehouse.com.au but I've found their valuations the most unreliable. While I like many other features, it's one part of that software that I both need to work but cannot rely on - nowadays I don't even look at it as it is so off-mark.
PF and RP were both in the ballpark - useful as confirmation (!) of own research, but no substitute for doing the full background. As always, choosing comparables is key. Even if you chose the same comparables for each service, you'd probably still get different ranges as their underlying algorithms are different.

 

All good Mcarther - we encourage users to "curate" the suggested comparables that are brought back by our AVM. You should be able to do (and doing) this every time you do a base line appraisal using any online tool. Online valuations still need the human touch in basically every case.

Until technology will be able to access images etc to gauge condition/specs/presentation etc then they will never be able to select the most relevant comparables reliably. 95% of any weighting for an appraisal should really be the recent sale prices of a directly relevant comparable property.

All our appraisal engine promises is to try and provide possible comparables back to you in some order that will save you time in "curating" the list. ie. Removing invalid comparables and replacing with valid comparables. I really feel it is a necessary part of the process to approve every comparable that is used to form an appraisal.

This process needs to be taken seriously for every property when you are moving towards serious offer stage and if you have any doubts or questions about an appraisal using our system use the #askripehouse tag to get myself or one of my staff to "vet" and provide a second opinion of the appraisal.

 

Any thoughts on the "property value" subscription by core logic it's 399 annually. I believe their big brother search engine rpdata proffesional is the bees knees but much more expensive

 

As per above the general rule at present is that Pricefinder is easier to use for the average investor, quicker learning curve and nicer user interface. RP has a few extra features and a more customisable CMA (although they are both customisable). Some folks just want RP because it is the biggest name in the business. I find both equally useful and I love comparing the results side by side. PM me if you want spots we run group discount buys for both platforms (national access, each user gets their own login) just be aware there is often a short wait list.