How we build the number
- Closed comparable sales from the MLS, matched on neighborhood, square footage, build year, lot size and condition. Not the Zestimate, not tax roll value.
- Weighted for recency, because a market that moved roughly 6.5 percent in a year makes a fourteen-month-old sale a historical note rather than a comp.
- Adjusted for what is actually in your house. A five-year-old roof, a recent HVAC, a renovated kitchen, a finished flex space. These are worth real money and an automated tool cannot see any of them.
- Set against your live competition. The homes listed against you right now are what a buyer is choosing between this weekend.
- Checked against expired and withdrawn listings, which show the prices this market has already rejected. This is the most underused data in real estate and it defines the ceiling.
It also works for a tax protest
If you are protesting your Williamson County appraisal, real closed comparable sales beat an automated estimate at a hearing every time. We will pull them for you whether or not you are a client and whether or not you ever list with us. Details on the process are in our Hutto property tax guide.
You do not have to be selling
Plenty of people want the number for refinancing, for an insurance review, for estate planning, for a divorce, or just to know. That is fine. We will give you the number and the comps behind it, and if you are not selling we will not call you about selling. Being useful to people in this town is how a family brokerage lasts fourteen years.
CMA, appraisal, assessed value: three different numbers
Your home has at least three official-looking values floating around, and they are produced by different people for different purposes. Mixing them up is the single most common valuation confusion we untangle.
- A comparative market analysis (CMA) is what we build: a broker's read of what your home would sell for today, built from closed MLS comparables and the live competition. It exists to price a sale and it is free.
- An appraisal is a formal opinion of value from a state-licensed appraiser, usually ordered by a buyer's lender after you are under contract. The lender relies on it to size the loan. It looks backward at closed sales through a regulated methodology, which is why an appraisal can land under an offer price in a fast-moving market.
- The assessed value is what the Williamson Central Appraisal District assigns your property as of January 1 each year for taxation. It is a mass appraisal produced for the tax roll, not an offer anyone will make you, and it routinely differs from market value in both directions. It is the number you protest, not the number you list at.
When the three disagree, nothing is broken. They answer three different questions asked by three different institutions. The one that decides what lands in your pocket is the one buyers actually pay, and that is the question a CMA exists to answer.
Common questions, answered straight
Is a CMA the same as an appraisal?
No. A CMA is a broker's pricing analysis built from MLS comparable sales, used to set a list price, and it is free. An appraisal is a formal valuation by a state-licensed appraiser, typically ordered by the buyer's lender during a purchase, and the lender uses it to size the loan. They can land on different numbers because they are built for different purposes.
Why is my Williamson County assessed value different from what my home would sell for?
The appraisal district assigns values in bulk for the tax roll as of January 1, without walking your home or weighing your specific upgrades and condition. Market value is whatever a buyer actually pays. The two routinely differ, which is also why closed comparable sales are the strongest evidence in a tax protest.
Does a free broker valuation obligate me to list my home?
No. We provide the number and the comparable sales behind it with no obligation, and if you are not selling we will not call you about selling. People use it for refinancing, insurance reviews, estate planning and tax protests.
How accurate are automated home value estimates in Hutto?
They work from public records and neighborhood averages, so they cannot see roof age, renovations, lot position or the condition of nearby sales. In Hutto neighborhoods with a wide build-year span they can miss by a wide margin. A broker valuation from matched, closed MLS comparables corrects for all of that.
