The three ways to find your home's value
You can find your home's estimated value through a public tax assessment, an online valuation tool, or a professional appraisal. Each gives you a different number because they use different methods, and none of them is "the" value — your home is worth what someone will pay for it on the day you sell.
The tax assessment is free and public. The online tools are free and instant but less reliable. A professional appraisal costs $300 to $500 and is the most accurate, but you usually only need one when you're refinancing or selling.
Start with whichever method matches what you need the number for. If you're curious about your home's worth for insurance or property tax purposes, the tax assessment is enough. If you're thinking about selling or refinancing, get a professional appraisal.
Key Takeaways
- Your county assessor's office publishes your home's assessed value for free online, usually searchable by address or parcel number.
- Online tools like Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com estimate value instantly but can be off by thousands of dollars, especially in rural areas or unusual homes.
- A licensed appraiser gives you the most accurate number, but costs money and takes one to two weeks — use this before refinancing or selling.
- The assessed value, the estimated value, and the appraised value are almost always different numbers, and that's normal.
- Your home's actual value is what a buyer will pay for it, not what any of these methods say.
Finding your county's tax assessment
Every county in the United States publishes the assessed value of your home for property tax purposes. This is public record and free to look up. Go to your county assessor's website — search "[your county name] assessor" — and look for a search tool or property database. You'll usually search by address or parcel number.
The assessed value is often lower than what your home would sell for, because assessors use formulas rather than recent sales data. But it's a real number based on your actual property, not an algorithm guessing from the internet. If you're disputing your property taxes or need a baseline number quickly, this is the place to start.
Some counties make this harder than others. If you can't find it online, call the assessor's office directly — they're required to give you this information. Have your address and parcel number ready, or ask them how to find it.
Using online valuation tools
Websites like Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, and Trulia show estimated home values instantly. They pull data from recent sales in your area, tax records, and property details, then run it through a model to guess what your home is worth. The estimate appears as a single number, but these sites usually show a range too — that range is more honest about how uncertain the estimate is.
These tools are free and fast, but they're often wrong. The error is usually larger in rural areas, for unusual homes, or in neighborhoods where few homes have sold recently. A tool might say your home is worth $350,000 when it's actually worth $320,000 or $380,000. They're useful for a rough sense of direction, not for decisions that cost you money.
If you use an online tool, check multiple sites. If Zillow says $350,000 and Redfin says $345,000, you're probably in the right ballpark. If one says $350,000 and another says $400,000, the estimates are too far apart to trust without more information.
Getting a professional appraisal
A licensed appraiser visits your home, measures it, photographs it, checks the condition of the roof and foundation, and compares it to similar homes that sold recently in your area. They then write a formal report with their estimate of value. This costs $300 to $500 and takes one to two weeks.
You need a professional appraisal when you're refinancing a mortgage or applying for a home equity loan — the lender requires it. You may also want one before selling if you're pricing your home and want a number you can defend. Appraisers are regulated by state law and must follow standard methods, so their work is more reliable than an online estimate.
You can't order an appraisal yourself and have it mean anything to a lender — the lender orders it from an appraiser they choose, so they know the appraiser has no reason to inflate the number. If you want an appraisal for your own information before selling, you can hire one independently, but a real estate agent's comparative market analysis (CMA) is often free and serves the same purpose.
Why these numbers are all different
Your tax assessment, an online estimate, and a professional appraisal will almost never match. The tax assessment uses a formula and may be years old. The online estimate uses a model trained on past sales. The appraisal uses a human appraiser's judgment and recent comparable sales. They're measuring different things, so they give different answers.
This doesn't mean one is right and the others are wrong. It means each one is useful for a different purpose. The assessed value tells you what your county thinks your home is worth for tax purposes. The online estimate gives you a quick sense of the market. The appraisal tells you what a professional thinks your home would sell for right now.
What to do if you're selling your home
Before listing, talk to a real estate agent in your area. They'll prepare a comparative market analysis (CMA) — a report showing what similar homes sold for recently. This is usually free and is more useful than any online tool, because the agent knows your local market and can explain why your home might be worth more or less than the comps.
You can also order a professional appraisal on your own dime, but most sellers skip this step. The buyer's lender will order an appraisal anyway, and if it comes in low, you'll have to renegotiate or the deal falls apart. Getting your own appraisal first doesn't prevent that, but it does let you price realistically from the start.
What to do if you're refinancing
Your lender will order the appraisal for you as part of the refinance process. You don't choose the appraiser, and you usually don't see the report until after it's done. If the appraisal comes in lower than you expected, the lender may reduce the loan amount or ask you to pay a larger down payment. If it comes in higher, you're in a stronger position to refinance.
You can't shop around for a higher appraisal — lenders know this and protect against it by choosing the appraiser themselves. If you think the appraisal is wrong, you can request a reconsideration, but the appraiser has to have a good reason to change their number.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is my county's tax assessment the same as my home's market value?
No. The assessed value is used to calculate property taxes and is often lower than market value. It's based on a formula, not on what your home would actually sell for. Use it as a starting point, not as your home's true worth.
Can I trust the Zillow estimate?
Zillow's estimate is a starting point, not a fact. It can be off by thousands of dollars, especially for unusual homes or in areas with few recent sales. Use it alongside other sources, and don't make financial decisions based on it alone.
Do I need an appraisal if I'm just curious about my home's value?
No. Start with your county's tax assessment and an online tool like Zillow. A professional appraisal costs money and takes time. Only order one if you're refinancing, selling, or need a number you can defend in writing.
What if the appraisal comes in lower than I expected?
If you're refinancing, the lender may reduce the loan amount. If you're selling, you may need to lower your asking price. You can request a reconsideration of the appraisal if you think the appraiser made a factual error, but they don't have to change their number.
How often should I check my home's value?
There's no set schedule. Check when you're thinking about refinancing, selling, or disputing your property taxes. Real estate values change slowly in most areas, so checking once a year is plenty if you're just tracking trends.