According to HousingWire, Kelley Blue Book Homes just launched a new tool that lets homeowners get their own property valuations in eleven states across the country. The company is already operating in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Idaho and Washington, with plans to expand nationwide by early 2027. This is a partnership between Kelley Blue Book's parent company Cox Enterprises and True Footage, a firm that specializes in valuation technology.
The real innovation here is how they're approaching the valuation itself. Rather than just plugging in public records data like most automated systems do, this platform actually asks homeowners to share specific details about their property. You tell them about renovations you've done, the condition of the home, special amenities, and other improvements you've made. That information gets combined with neighborhood-level pricing trends and seasonal patterns to come up with the estimate. It's built on something called TrueTracts, which is proprietary technology already being used by professional appraisers and lenders across roughly $275 billion in properties nationwide.
The company is claiming their valuations are engineered to land within three percent of what a home actually sells for. That's significant because according to their research, more than a third of automated home estimates miss the final sale price by more than ten percent. The CEO explained that the goal here is to give homeowners accurate information about their most valuable asset, since he says consumers are getting incomplete or conflicting information from the platforms currently out there.
Beyond just the valuation number, the platform also connects homeowners with vetted agents who can help guide them through the selling process. The company suggests this guidance can help prevent the kind of mispricing or mistakes that might cost sellers six figures in lost proceeds. So you're getting both an independent valuation and professional assistance all in one place.
What I am seeing locally here in the Bay Area is that homeowners are increasingly hungry for transparency and clarity when it comes to pricing their homes. A tool like this that combines actual property condition with neighborhood-specific data could be really valuable for people trying to understand what their home is actually worth before they jump into the market. With California included in their initial rollout, it's worth paying attention to how this performs and whether it lives up to those accuracy claims.
