Method for validating specified prices on real property

• US 6,115,694 A
• Filed: 07/17/1998
• Issued: 09/05/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Bonissone, Piero Patrone, Cheetham, William Estel
• Primary Examiner(s): Poinvil, Frantzy
• Application Number:
  US09/118,103
• Time in Patent Office: 781 Days
• Field of Search: 705/10, 705/30, 705/35, 705/36, 705/37, 705/38, 707/10, 707/100, 707/104, 707/200
• US Class Current: 705/7.35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for validating specified prices on real property. A set of real estate properties comparable to the subject property are retrieved. A measurement of similarity between each comparable property and the subject property is then determined. A plurality of adjustment rules are then applied to adjust the price of the comparable properties. The adjusted comparable properties are then extracted, sorted, and ranked, according to the specified sale price. The extracted comparable properties are then aggregated into an estimate price of the subject property. After aggregation, the estimate price of the subject property is compared to the specified price and a measurement of confidence validating the reliability of the specified price is then generated.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for validating a specified price of a subject property, comprising:

retrieving a set of real estate properties comparable to the subject property from a case base, the comparable properties and the subject property characterized by a plurality of common attributes each having a respective value;

evaluating each attribute value from the set of comparable properties to the same attribute value of the subject property on a fuzzy preference scale indicating desirable and tolerable deviations from an ideal match with the subject property, each evaluation generating a preference vector having a value between 0 and 1;

determining a measurement of similarity between each comparable property and the subject property;

examining additional attributes characterizing the comparable properties with the subject property;

determining differences between the additional attributes characterizing each of the comparable properties and the subject property;

applying a plurality of adjustment rules from an adjustment rule database to the differences between each of the comparable properties and the subject property, the plurality of adjustment rules adjusting the price of the comparable properties by either decreasing the price of each comparable property if the comparable property has differences in the additional characteristics that are superior in value to the subject property or increasing the price of each comparable property if the comparable property has differences in additional characteristics that are inferior in value to the subject property;

extracting the adjusted comparable properties according to a predetermined threshold;

sorting and ranking the adjusted comparable properties according to similarity with the specified price;

extracting the sorted and ranked comparable properties;

aggregating the extracted comparable properties into an estimate price of the subject property; and

comparing the estimate price of the subject property to the specified price and generating a measurement of confidence validating the reliability of the specified sale price.

2. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, further comprising filtering the set of comparable properties to obtain a smaller set of comparable properties.

3. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of common attributes comprise date of sale, distance to each other, sale price, living area, lot size, number of bedrooms, and number of bathrooms.

4. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, determining a measurement of similarity comprises providing a predetermined weight to each attribute, multiplying the predetermined weight by the preference vector for each attribute to generate a weighted preference value, and summing each of the weighted preference values to provide a measurement of similarity.

5. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the additional characteristics comprise fireplaces, a pool, effective age of the property, quality of the property, and condition of the property.

6. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 wherein the aggregating comprises multiplying the adjusted price of the comparable properties to their respective measurement of similarity to generate a weighted price, summing the weighted prices for all of the comparable properties to generate a total weighted price, summing the measurements of similarities from the comparable properties to generate a total measurement of similarity, dividing the total weighted price by the total measurement of similarity to generate the estimate price value of the subject property.