AI Disclaimer
Estimates, not valuations
RealTeasy's reports (Property Scan, Home Value Estimate and Snap & Scan alike) are generated by artificial intelligence and ordinary software analysing listing information, property details, photos and market data. They produce an estimate of value and market context.
We are not property valuers. RealTeasy is not registered with the South African Council for the Property Valuers Profession, no registered valuer prepares or reviews a report, and a report is not a valuation, an appraisal or a sworn appraisement under the Property Valuers Profession Act 47 of 2000. Do not use a report where a valuation by a registered valuer is required: a bond application, a deceased estate, a divorce, an insolvency, expropriation, a rating objection, financial reporting, or court proceedings. For any of those, instruct a registered valuer.
Not financial advice
Nothing in a report constitutes financial, investment, legal, tax or professional advice. You should not rely on a report alone when deciding whether to buy, sell, finance, or negotiate a property transaction. Always seek advice from a qualified professional (such as a registered valuer, conveyancer, bond originator or financial advisor) before making a financial decision.
This includes the investment verdict. A report may print a decisive-looking "invest", "value play" or "pass", together with yields, cash-flow projections, cost-of-waiting figures and a negotiation ladder. Those are the output of stated assumptions applied to estimated inputs. They are analysis, not a recommendation, and they are not a forecast of what will happen to your money.
How estimates are built, and what each part rests on
Estimates combine several kinds of evidence, each with its own limitations, and every widget in a report labels the data tier that shaped it:
- Comparable listings. Most comparables are asking prices, which are what sellers hope for rather than what properties fetched. They are labelled as asking or sold throughout, and asking evidence is discounted before it can move an estimate, but a report built mostly on asking prices is built on what a market wants, not what it paid.
- Official index data. Long-range and 12-month trends use the Statistics South Africa Residential Property Price Index for the property's metro or province, scaled to local price levels. That index describes an area, not your specific property, and the index is published at metro level: there is no suburb-level official index.
- Registered sale averages and archived history. Suburb-level averages gathered from public portal pages and public web archives. Individual properties can and do deviate substantially from a suburb average.
- Projections. Any forward-looking figure (a 12-month projection, a 5-year appreciation rate, a cost-of-waiting number) extends current trends and is an assumption, not a prediction. Markets change.
- Modelled figures. Where a real figure is unavailable we sometimes model one: rental income where no comparable rents were found, levies, rates and running costs where the listing states none, and floor area estimated from photographs where none is published. A report marks a modelled figure as modelled. Yields, cash flow and buy-versus-rent maths are only ever as good as those inputs.
Where the report says a figure is "suburb-level", "metro-level", "modelled", or an estimate anchored on this property's own value, that label is part of the answer: read it. See Where Our Data Comes From for the full data story.
What the AI asserts without independent verification
We separate the figures from the commentary: the numbers you can act on are computed in ordinary code, and the AI researches and explains. That division is real, and it is described on the No invented numbers page. It has a boundary, and this is it.
Some parts of a report are the AI's qualitative assessment drawn from its general knowledge, not measurements taken from a source we can cite:
- Neighbourhood ratings (safety, schools, amenities, transport) and the commentary around them;
- The safety and security profile, including whether an area typically has street patrols, armed response, access control or CCTV initiatives;
- Estimated days on market and liquidity;
- Due-diligence checklists, risk flags and the free-form analyst commentary.
These are informed impressions, they can be out of date or simply wrong for your street, and they are not statistics. Nothing in that list should be treated as a factual statement about an area, and none of it is a substitute for checking with the local community policing forum, the SAPS precinct, the relevant school, the municipality or a security provider. We also do not intend any such commentary as a characterisation of the people who live in an area.
Independence from the asking price
A report's estimate is derived from evidence, and the server then measures it against what the seller is asking. If the two land within 2% of each other with no independent baseline supporting it, the estimate is treated as anchored rather than independent: it is blended back toward a size-based baseline, its confidence is capped, and the report says so. This reduces the risk that a report simply agrees with the seller. It does not guarantee the estimate is right.
Accuracy is measured over time, not promised up front
We record every estimate together with the shape of the evidence behind it, and score it against what later happens to the property. Those scores are designed to set future confidence ranges, and they are only ever permitted to widen a range. This machinery is running, but it requires substantial volume before it can influence anything: until a category of evidence has enough scored outcomes, ranges come from a conservative default assumption rather than from measurement. We do not publish an error rate, because we do not yet have one worth publishing. See How accurate is it.
Data sources may be incomplete
Reports are based on the listing or property details provided, publicly available market data, and our AI models' general knowledge of the South African property market. This underlying data can be outdated, incomplete or inaccurate, particularly for areas with limited comparable sales data. We do not independently verify every listing or market data point before it is used, and we do not verify that a listing itself is accurate or genuine. We do not currently integrate title-deed transfer records or municipal valuation rolls.
Verify independently
Always verify important details independently (including the accuracy of the listing itself, title deed information, zoning, building plan approvals, body-corporate finances, and recent comparable sales) before relying on any figure in a report for a real transaction.
No affiliation
RealTeasy is an independent analysis tool. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of Property24, Private Property, or any listing portal, estate agency or agent referenced in a report. Listing links are used only to read publicly available listing information for analysis. Where a report comments on a listing (for example noting that stated growth looks inconsistent with area data, or that a description does not match the photographs), that is our automated analysis of published information and an expression of opinion, not an allegation of dishonesty against any person. If you are an agent or agency and believe a report rests on a factual error, our Notice, Take-Down & Complaints page explains how to tell us.
Your rights and our liability for all of the above are set out in section 12 of our Terms & Conditions.
