CityBldr seeks to find the best use of properties. (CityBldr Photo)

CityBldr, a Seattle-based real estate startup, has released a new tool to help property owners get maximum value out of their homes and other properties when selling.

CityBldr said in a press release its new automated valuation tool stands out from others because it analyzes all uses for property and whether the land would be worth more as a redevelopment site, versus just looking at the value of the home. For the past six months, CityBldr has worked with a group of builders, developers and property owners on the valuation tool, and today it released it to all property owners in Seattle, Los Angeles and San Diego.

CityBldr CEO Bryan Copley

“Most people benchmark the value of their homes by going to traditional home value websites. The problem is that those sites have a blind spot in their valuation methods: they don’t value all potential uses of the property,” CityBldr CEO Bryan Copley said in a statement. “By evaluating all factors related to best and highest use of properties, we’ve engineered a more holistic valuation method. In many cases this new value will result in a substantially higher sale price for the property owner.”

CityBldr grew out of Copley’s previous endeavor, Everyhome, which lets homebuyers put offers on homes not yet on the market.

CityBldr uses artificial intelligence and machine learning and pulls data from more than 20 sources to figure out how to maximize property values, and it seeks to connect property owners to developers and builders.

One of the company’s main goals is to increase housing supply by taking advantage of the potential in the land. By providing data on how land is being used currently, and looking at the maximum potential for that land, CityBldr allows developers to see where they can invest to make the most profit, and the most impact on the community.

Copley hopes to help Seattle avoid some of the pitfalls that have come with San Francisco’s tech boom and the resulting housing shortage.

As more people came to the city, the housing supply quickly plummeted. The city didn’t act fast enough to create more supply, and now tensions are heating up between longtime residents and the new tech culture.

“That’s next for Seattle,” Copley told GeekWire last year. “So we’ll have a couple choices. As a city, we’ll have a choice to follow in San Francisco’s footsteps and try to preserve the city exactly as it is today, which will mean that with less supply as more people move into the city because of job growth. … I’m not a fan of that.”

Last year, CityBldr found after analyzing every parcel in King County for development possibilities that underutilized properties were costing the Seattle area $35.9 billion.

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