There are really only 2 ways to obtain accurate data on the most recent home sales and market trends:
1. The county property assessors website which in most cases is delayed by a few of months due to lack of staffing
2. Have your Realtor pull the data directly from the MLS for you which is updated daily.
Other less accurate methods:
If you are not ready to obtain the help of an agent just yet, you can use a few of the following methods to get an approximate value. However, when you find a home or a ready to start pursuing homes more seriously, be warned that most of these methods are an approximation at best. You should contact a Realtor for more accurate data.
1. Zillow: Provides a Zestimate of most homes, but the data that these calculations are based on are generally inaccurate by as much as 15% namely because it is either not up to date or the calculation used are the same throughout the county and do not account for local differences such as a particular subdivision. Consider if a subdivision with both a $100,000 starter home section and a $500,000 estate home section, the calculations for price per sq. ft. of the Zestimate would be wildly off for either sections.
2. Trulia: This sites estimates fall for the same reasons as Zillow, they do provide some interesting maps for both dividing sectors of a city by price and by number of sales which they call heat maps. Although these maps are not entirely accurate, they do provide some interesting insight for buyers.