FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. Why would I use HomePriceHistory.com ?
Answer: You would use HomePriceHistory as it helps ensure you have the best information available before making one of the biggest financial decisions of your life.
HomePriceHistory does this by pooling as much historical information as possible into the one place, which helps ensure complete transparency of knowledge. In a way, HomePriceHistory is your own personal and unbiased Real Estate Agent.
2. Who will use HomePriceHistory?
The site is of most use to people who are in the process of either buying or renting a house. They will want to use the site as it allows them to collate all their research in the one place and draw on other users research. It's also a great way to show friends and family your new place!
HomePriceHistory is also used by people who have a general interest in real estate, such as real estate hobbyists, investment buyers and industry representatives.
3. Can I use HomePriceHistory without having to login?
Absolutely - all the information entered into HomePriceHistory can be viewed by anyone regardless of if they are logged in or not. Try searching your own suburb or street and take a look!
4. What benefits are there if I login?
Logged in users can add a new property to the system and can also add information such as a sale or rental price. Importantly, logged in users can also create a Watchlist, which shows the latest information on that property, and allows them to easily keep track of properties that they are interested in.
5. What are the 3 key benefits for me using HomePriceHistory?
Benefit 1) Create your own property database - HomePriceHistory provides a free place where you can keep all the information you and other users have ever collected on real estate, in the one easy to access place. Regardless of if that information is a sale price, a weekly rental price or a comment, that information will be there forever for you to draw upon whenever you need. Not only will it be interesting in 20 years to see how much you paid rent or bought a house for, it will also help you establish a trend which could influence your purchasing in the years ahead.
Benefit 2) Draw on historical data - While you may not be in the market now for a place to buy or rent, by keeping an eye on prices and keeping them recorded in HomePriceHistory, you'll be better equipped when you do
Benefit 3) Draw on other peoples research - one of the great advantages of HomePriceHistory is that while you can view the information you have entered, you can also view what other people have entered as well. This is critical as the more information available to you when you are buying or renting, the better position you will be in to make an informed judgment.
6. Where does the information come from?
HomePriceHistory gets all of its information from individuals like you. Who better to upload the information that the people who know it best?
7. How can I trust the information is accurate if it can be entered by anyone?
As users will be entering data in for their own research, it would be self defeating for them to enter incorrect information in. Regardless, HomePriceHistory has developed its own advanced integrity checks, which helps keep the data as accurate as possible.
8. Will this put real estate agents out of work?
No - but it will give more power back to the consumer, and lead to less 'misinformation' peddled by some real estate agents. As Barbara Corcoran, a leading US real estate commentator said, "the more information you have, the more powerful you are as a buyer."
9. Why is it free?
HomePriceHistory is free because we don't believe people should have to pay just to be informed about a property. We see this as a universal right.
10. Can I make an enhancement request?
Yes, we are always looking at ways to improve the website. Please use our Contact Us page.
11. Why should I add my mobile number when registering?
Having your Mobile/Cell Number associated with your profile allows you to take advance of the latest in SMS technology. The HPH REALeSMS(c) service allows users to SMS results and/or any type of information straight to their HPH profile. This is incredibly useful as it means you can upload important information straight to your profile for later analysis. Apart from the cost of sending the SMS message (most carriers charge about 30 cents) it will be a completely free service.
How does it work? When you SMS a message to the REALeSMS(C) number , the message gets sent to our server. From there, our server matches your mobile/cell phone number with the number in your profile, and if the two match, it attaches the message to your Notes & SMS page. This ensures that only you can receive messages from your own phone number and it is completely private!
Example 1 - You've just been at an auction, and while you were not bidding, you think it would be interesting to keep note of the auction result. Rather than writing it on the back of your hand (that is if you have a pen!) you simply SMS the result to your HPH profile (eg 450 Heather street sold for $458,000) and when you next login to HPH, that information will be their waiting for you!
Example 2 - You're walking through an open for inspection, and you notice that the workmanship in the kitchen looks a bit cheap. It's something that you could easily forget, but by sending an SMS to your HPH profile, it will be waiting for you when you next login!
You can be assured that we will never send you unsolicited SMS messages.
