Soft Computing Evaluation Logic

4.2Home Selection

Home selection is one of the most important evaluation and selection problems for all families. In this chapter we study this problem from two standpoints: (1) home selection using data provided by online real estate (ORE) websites, and (2) home evaluation using personalized evaluation criteria. The difference between these two problems is that in the case of personalized evaluation criteria, the user can create an arbitrary home attribute tree and use it to build a unique (personalized) evaluation criterion, while in the case of ORE websites the set of available attributes is predefined (fixed) and the user must adapt his/her criterion to the available data set.

In this context homes are defined as residential units of different types: single family house, duplex (a residential unit in house containing two residential units), townhouse (owned housing unit in a row of identical attached units), condo (an owned apartment in a residential building), and apartment (rented residential unit in a residential building). We will develop a criterion for home selection that is primarily focused on selecting single family houses, but can also be applied to other residential units.

4.2.1 Home Selection Using ORE Websites and LSPhome

ORE websites (e.g., [ZIL11]), based on MLS data [NAR06], provide access to all homes offered for sale in an area specified by a zip code. The search can be customized using a flexible query based on a few additional conditions like price ...