What Is Ownerly? Should You Use its Home Value Estimator?
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Dena Landon, Contributing AuthorClose
Dena Landon Contributing AuthorDena Landon is a writer with over 10 years of experience and has had bylines appear in The Washington Post, Salon, Good Housekeeping and more. A homeowner and real estate investor herself, Dena's bought and sold four homes, worked in property management for other investors, and has written over 200 articles on real estate.
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Richard Haddad, Executive EditorClose
Richard Haddad Executive EditorRichard Haddad is the executive editor of HomeLight.com. He works with an experienced content team that oversees the company’s blog featuring in-depth articles about the home buying and selling process, homeownership news, home care and design tips, and related real estate trends. Previously, he served as an editor and content producer for World Company, Gannett, and Western News & Info, where he also served as news director and director of internet operations.
Thinking about selling or remodeling? You’re probably curious about your home’s current market value. Most sellers want to get top dollar for their home, and people choosing to remodel don’t want to put money into their homes they won’t recoup when they sell. Enter Ownerly.com, the home value and data website.
When you search online for your home’s value, Ownerly might pop up in the results. Its tagline — “Home Value, See What Your Home is REALLY Worth” — targets homeowners who want a current market estimate of their home’s value.
Here’s what you need to know about Ownerly before signing up for their (paid) service.
Curious What Your Home Is Worth?
Get a near-instant real estate house price estimate from HomeLight for free. Our tool analyzes the records of recently sold homes near you, your home’s last sale price, and other market trends to provide a preliminary range of value in under two minutes.
Editor’s note: Processes, rates, and services from real estate companies can change based on market conditions, housing trends, changes in technology, and customer needs.
What is Ownerly?
Ownerly is a website designed to help homeowners determine their home’s value and view other real estate data. Their focus is on the investment aspect of homeownership, and they tout that their service will unlock professional-grade real estate data.
While home valuation is their core business, they also provide information on mortgage and refinancing rates, estimated home improvement costs, and local sales data. You can see what your neighbor sold their home for or if they have any liens against their property. Their tagline under their logo on their website says, “Ownerly.com helps you search homes and learn more about them.”
The website features a blog with a content library that covers buying and selling a home, home improvements, mortgage and loans, and real estate basics. Their name indicates the brand’s focus on homeowners.
How does Ownerly work for home sellers?
If you’re a home seller, Ownerly could be useful as a data point.
If you have doubts about the price range an agent selected after preparing a comparative market analysis (CMA), Ownerly can possibly provide some confirmation.
Home sellers considering selling “for sale by owner” (FSBO) might find Ownerly helpful when setting a list price, although industry experts warn against relying too heavily on automated valuation models (AVM) to set your own price. It can also save FSBO sellers time researching recent comparable sales in their neighborhood.
It’s important to note that AVMs like Ownerly’s typically only provide a ballpark home value estimate and are not as reliable or accurate as a CMA or an appraisal.
On Ownerly’s site homepage, you’ll find a tool called “Browse Properties by State” that drills down on a street. You can see the average lot size, property taxes, and the age of homes where you live, as well as recent sales data. These informational listings are useful if you’re initially pricing your home or trying to see how much you might get for selling.
What if you’re a homeowner a few years out from selling? Ownerly’s data could help you weigh the value of home improvements. The typical renovations on homes in your area, plus cost data and home values, could help you estimate the potential cost of a remodel and if you’d recoup that cost when selling.
How does Ownerly work for homebuyers?
Homebuyers want to get a great house at a fair price, but it’s hard to know what’s fair in a complex housing market. Ownerly’s reports and home valuation tracking tools could be helpful in writing a fair offer and in negotiations with sellers. Here again, industry experts recommend partnering with an experienced real estate agent to manage offers and negotiations.
Does Ownerly serve your area?
According to their website, Ownerly serves the entire United States. They appear to offer reports on a variety of addresses for various states that we tested.
Is there a cost to use Ownerly?
To access Ownerly, membership begins at $29.99 per month, and introductory offers are available to help you get started. Typically, subscriptions continue until canceled. Ownerly has a 7-day trial for $1, which includes up to 25 online reports. Their $5 trial price, which is also valid for 7 days, allows PDF downloads for the reports.
What’s the incentive for Ownerly?
Ownerly seems to generate revenue from membership fees (i.e., charging businesses to join their network) and selling the data it has collected.
Ownerly offers businesses the chance to join their network by filling out a Google form on their website. Ownerly receives referral fees if you use a business referred through their website. While their terms and conditions address certain fees, it’s unclear how much businesses pay to advertise and/or receive referrals.
Although unclear by perusing their site, some online reviews indicate Ownerly generates revenue by selling its users’ data to real estate agents, banks, lenders, and other professionals and companies who sign up to join their partner network. If you wish to keep your data private, you have the option to click on a link at the bottom of their website labeled “Do Not Sell My Personal Information.”
The link takes you to beenverified.com. By selecting to opt out, you can ensure that Ownerly does not sell your personal information, such as an email address.
Ownerly Reviews
One of the best ways to evaluate a business is by reading online reviews. While most businesses have a significant mix of positive and negative feedback, Ownerly has a slim online review presence. Here’s a snapshot of what users are saying about Ownerly online.
Trustpilot — Ownerly has 2.2 out of 5 stars, with 138 reviews. Most of the reviews (75%) are rated at 1 star, while 16% give a 5-star rating.
Ownerly doesn’t have a strong rating on Trustpilot. They’ve received both positive and negative reviews. One recent client had a positive experience with quick customer service, while another mentioned an issue with being charged after canceling a free trial.
The brand doesn’t seem to maintain a Google business page with customer reviews, though it appears that they had an app on the Google Play store at some point. They have a Better Business Bureau listing with an A+ rating, but they are not accredited.
As a business done entirely online it’s noteworthy that they don’t have a Google Business presence, which would allow Google reviews.
Pros and cons of using Ownerly
Why sign up for Ownerly’s service?
Easy and quick
You could pull together all of the data in Ownerly’s reports by combing through a county assessor’s website, Googling, and researching recent home sales. Or, you could sign up for their service and receive it in minutes.
Almost free
If you remember to cancel in time, you shouldn’t pay more than a dollar for the information. And if you’re looking for general homebuying and ownership information, you can read their blog without signing up.
Could get connected with local professionals
If it is time to remodel that 1970s bathroom, Ownerly connects you with local professionals. However, this is only available after joining their services.
Why avoid using Ownerly?
Data may not be accurate
Several reviews noted that Ownerly’s data appeared inaccurate. Relying upon it could be risky, and you’ll want to confirm key data with outside sources before making binding decisions (such as accepting a buyer’s offer).
Expensive if you forget to cancel
Most homeowners won’t have an ongoing need for this data, and may only want to know their home’s worth or local home values at certain times — like when planning to sell or remodel. It usually doesn’t make much sense to pay a monthly subscription to have continued access to this information.
Professionals may not be properly vetted
While Ownerly does request licenses and other information on the application to join their network, it’s unclear if they check references or dig into professional qualifications beyond that point.
Alternatives to Ownerly
There are a number of other companies out there that will help you determine your home’s value, put you in touch with contractors, or find a discount real estate agent. A few examples include:
- HomeLight
- Clever Real Estate
- Angi (formerly Angi’s List)
HomeLight has a home value estimator tool, agent matching, and more. Clever Real Estate will help you estimate your home’s value and put you in touch with an agent willing to accept a lower commission or flat rate.
Angi connects homeowners with local contractors and also provides verified reviews to calculate their ratings, giving you more confidence they’ll do the job well, something not featured in Ownerly’s network.
HomeLight and Clever’s home value estimator services are entirely free. Angi is free but charges an annual membership fee of $29.99 if you want discounts on services. There are also dozens of other free home valuation tools available from real estate companies, lenders, and other financial institutions.
Other services offered by Ownerly
Ownerly offers additional services, but other than their blog content you must be registered with the site to access them. You can accomplish most of these tasks with a quick Internet search or on another free website. These include:
- Mortgage rates and information on refinancing
- Homeowner’s insurance policies and average premiums
- Typical renovations and their average costs for comparable properties
- Home security packages and referrals to other home service providers in your area
- Energy-saving packages and utility changeover offers
How does HomeLight’s Home Value Estimator work?
Other online tools give you an estimate of your home’s value without requiring that you give them a credit card. HomeLight’s Home Value Estimator asks seven simple questions and then analyzes millions of data points to return a home value estimate. In less than two minutes, we’ll provide a ballpark estimate telling you what your home might be worth right now.
Other services and tools offered by HomeLight
HomeLight offers other valuable tools for homebuyers and sellers.
- Agent Match – In less than two minutes, we match you with top agents in your area — agents who sell homes faster and in a shorter timeframe than average agents, as measured by analyzing over 27 million real estate transactions.
- HomeLight Simple Sale – HomeLight provides a cash offer to buy your home, which allows you to skip repair costs, showings, and agent commissions.
- HomeLight’s Buy Before You Sell – this innovation program simplifies your transition to a new home. It allows you to purchase your next home before selling your current property.
Here’s how HomeLight Buy Before You Sell works:
*Services available in most states.
Additional tools and resources HomeLight offers
- Agent Commissions Calculator – If you’re curious about how much you’ll pay an agent in your home sale, this calculator can estimate what to expect.
- Home Affordability Calculator – Home shopping and need to set a budget? After answering a few questions about your income and expenses, this calculator estimates how much home you can afford.
- Best Time to Sell Calculator – Want to maximize your profit? The best time to sell calculator analyzes sales data in your neighborhood and tells you when you’re more likely to make the most money.
Frequently Asked Questions about Ownerly
Here’s a quick rundown of frequently asked questions about Ownerly.
Does Ownerly charge fees?
To access home valuation data on Ownerly, you must provide your credit card information to purchase a trial subscription or promotional access deal.
Is Ownerly legit?
They are a registered business that uses third-party Automated Valuation Model services to provide home value estimates — similar to Zestimate and other websites. The company was founded in 2018.
Can you cancel Ownerly?
To cancel, you must email their customer service team or use available online account tools.
Is Ownerly safe?
The company’s policies and terms and conditions make it clear that they can sell your data unless you opt out. However, they are a legitimate business and not a scam.
Weigh the benefits and drawbacks of Ownerly: know your options
Ownerly provides a way for homeowners to track their home’s value, determine the potential return on investment of a remodel, and find local service providers. While all of this data and these services can be found elsewhere, for free or cheaper, some homeowners might find value in having it all in one place.
Homeowners today are fortunate to have excellent online options to check the value of their homes and research real estate data. Get a free real-world home value estimate in less than two minutes right now with HomeLight ‘s free Home Value Estimator. Or, if you’re a home seller, get matched with a top real estate agent in your area with Agent Match and request a comparative market analysis (CMA).
Contributing Editor Frances Metz assisted with this post.
Header Image Source: (Vitalii Vodolazskyi / Shutterstock)
At HomeLight, our vision is a world where every real estate transaction is simple, certain, and satisfying. Therefore, we promote strict editorial integrity in each of our posts.
