Frequently Asked Questions

 

 

He who doesn't ask, won't know.  Nobody important said that, but it's doesn't make it any less true.

Here you'll find a list of our most frequently asked questions regarding the Evaluate service. 

 

I only have the property's erf number.  Will I get a result? 

We can only provide evaluations using supplied erf numbers if you make use of the online search.  At present, we do not provide functionality for SMS searches using only an erf and portion number.

 

It's all based on street addresses, how do I search for a sectional title property?

In order to receive an accurate result you'll need to have the actual section number as registered at the Deed's Office and not just the number on the door (sometimes they are the same, but not often).  It is best to contact the applicable body corporate or managing agents to get this info before you do a search. 

 

I want to EVALUATE a farm, commercial or industrial property.  Is this possible?

EVALUATE is primarily for the prediction of residential property prices so no, not quite yet, but we're working on it. The prediction model's accuracy of commercial, industrial and agricultural property predictions requires further research. 

 

How does EVALUATE calculate the predicted value of the property?

Some very clever people have spent a very long time developing our robust evaluation technology that pulls in data from various reliable and accurate resources in order to present you with a real time result for your query.  It's a complex calculation but let's try summarise it:

 

1.    Segmenting the market:  South Africa is broken down into smaller, more comparable components by area and price.  This is important as it is known that the smaller the area being looked at, the more similar the properties will become in terms of price bands.  Furthermore, properties in different price bands have different growth rates and those in the same price band grow at more or less the same rate.

 

2.    Determining growth rates:  By examining repeat sales within the segments the model determines an average change in sale price over time.  Any data that is too far removed from the "norm" is removed - preserving the model's accuracy - and ensuring that transactions that are not deemed to be representative of the “normal market” do not alter or negatively affect results. 

 

3.    Fine tuning for influencing factors: The rates are then tweaked and adjusted to take macro-economic indicators that directly affect property prices and sales, such as interest rates and CPI, into consideration.

 

4.     Evaluating a property:  The result of the above is a predicted current market value for the property investigated in real-time. 

 

 

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How accurate is EVALUATE?

Thus far, EVALUATE has estimated the value of over 4.5 million properties in South Africa. 

The accuracy of the prediction will depend on the area, volume of real-estate transactions and consistency of values within the suburb. For example, 82% of homes in Bryanston have estimates, and based on the confidence rating, 75% of these estimates are accurate. Another example is the suburb of eBayi in Soweto which has estimates for 74% of its properties and 75% of these are accurate. 

EVALUATE's data and analytics teams are constantly improving the accuracy of the predictions as data becomes available. Every day, advanced computer algorithms explore streams of data, comparing each property with similar nearby properties while taking into account newly reported sales and suburb trends. Primarily the accuracy of any statistical model depends on sufficient available input data. Of course, no computer model will ever replace the final determination of the market value made by visual inspection of the subject property.  We also refer you to the terms of usage.

 

What does the confidence rating mean?

The confidence rating is a scorecard of the probability that EVALUATE's prediction is within 10% of what the actual selling price of the property will be. A high score predicts little or no difference between the actual and predicted value while a low score would indicate that the actual and predicted value will likely differ by more than 10%.

 

What are the high and low values for?

EVALUATE's high and low values indicate the predicted range in which the actual market value will be found since many unknown factors can significantly influence the property value such as the accommodation details, level of finishes etc.

 

Is it safe to use my credit card on the Evaluate web site?

What is 3D secure?

3D Secure stands for Three Domain Secure - the payment industry's internet authentication standard which has been developed by the major card schemes. Visa has called their version of the scheme 'Verified by Visa' and MasterCard have called their equivalent initiative 'MasterCard SecureCode'. These are both collectively referred to as 3D Secure.

When attempting to make a payment on the Evaluate site, you may be offered the oppurtunity to register for 3D secure if you have not already done so.  This is a one time process which takes place on the card issuer's website and requires you to answer several security questions to which only the card issuer and yourself will know the answer. You will then select a password and agree on a secret phrase, which will be used by the card issuer during each online transaction.

 

If you have already enrolled in the 3D Secure scheme, you will be redirected to a page on the card issuer's website where you can enter your password. Processing of the payment will then proceed.

 

For more information or assistance using 3D secure, please contact your bank on one of the numbers below:

 

Nedbank:           (011) 710 4710

ABSA:                 (012) 317 3344

FNB:                   (011) 369 2999

Standard bank:   0861  201 311

 

If we haven't answered your question here, please contact us with your question and we'll get back to you.