Monthly for the trend — and right away before any decision the number feeds. A single month's estimate tells you little on its own; a run of monthly readings shows which way your home, and the equity in it, is actually moving.
A simple cadence
Monthly: the estimate and the equity. That is the Homeowner HQ rhythm — a monthly update from your own realtor or lender carrying the value estimate, labeled as an estimate, and the equity beside it. Look at the direction over several months, not one jump.
Right away: before a decision. Check before you list, refinance, apply to borrow against equity, or renew insurance. For those decisions the formal number — an appraisal or your lender's valuation — is the one that counts; the monthly estimate tells you where you stand going in.
After a change: correct the facts. A renovation, a payoff, or a fact that was simply wrong changes the estimate's inputs. In Homeowner HQ a homeowner corrects their own facts from inside the update, and the value and equity recalculate.
Do not react to one month. Estimates move as new nearby sales land. Three months moving the same way is a trend worth a conversation with your agent; one month is usually noise.
Why the monthly habit helps
Value and equity move even when you do nothing — nearby sales shift the value, and every payment lowers what you owe. A homeowner who sees both numbers monthly, from their own agent, is not surprised by them later: not at a listing conversation, not at a refinance, and not when a loan question comes up.
What it costs
Homeowners are always free. Realtors pay $25/mo to join and lenders join at the $5/mo founding rate, at any book size, with no setup fee; sending messages inside HQ is a $100/mo unlock ($125/mo total for realtors, $105/mo total for lenders). A lender-sponsored realtor joins for $0.
Homeowner HQ is an AI-powered marketing department for agents and lenders — a relationship and revenue engine, not a homeowner database. A homeowner's record routes them back to their own agent; it is never sold and never shown to lenders.