How does one fiqure out how much their home has really increased in value?

Put the TLDR here: So as a precursor I fiqure most people either a)overvalue thier home or b)undervalue their home . How does one keep tabs on how much their home has went up in value for purposes of refinancing etc

A little background to the question:.

We are about to close on a home. We have only every owned one home before this one. When we bought our first home it was at a sub 3% rate in a medium cost of living area. We never really gave any thought to how much it was valued at (since rate was so low we never considered refinancing). When we mover states we spent some money doing work to it, nothing super major (refinished hardwood floors, painted walls and cabinets, we did have to go through insurance for a new roof). I guess because we lived there we really didnt see how the value went up and we were surprised at what our agent put it on the market for and surprised for what it sold for (nothing too crazy--pre covid--but still I really dont think it was worth what we sold it for).

But because rates are high (not historically but still, for what we were used to high) one concern I have is having a way to track valuation of the new house, just in case rates drop to a point where refinancing would make sense (we did use a FTHB program, we didnt want to and were saving up for a down payment to avoid it but both market prices in our area plus rate increases outpaced our downpayment savings--sure maybe rates or prices will fall and we will regret it but if they continue to climb we run a very real risk of being priced out of the area which we are still tied to for the next 18 years, payment will suck but is doable).

I know "real equity" is current loan amount minus orginal loan amount (assuming the market doesnt crash). But im wondering how to fiqure potential equity, i.e. as the market goes up the equity in your home goes up---our plan is for a portion of our savings to be a "refinancing savings" i.e. if rates drop we want to be in a postion to refinance. I know many people say "my house went up XX amount in value" but how do they really know?

So how do people keep tabs on how much their home has increased in valuation really. Do they just keep tabs on current comps? We do plan on making some improvements on the home (nothing wild, just little stuff over time).

To be clear I really dont expect a huge rate drop anytime soon, but id rather fiqure this out now then have to scramble to fiqure it out later if rates drop sometime in the future. The main reason is because, as opposed to when we owned our prior house, should rates drop we would save a ton by refinancing so I just want to get in a mindset now of being able to keep track of this. Maybe its a little OCD but Its something Ive been wondering about.

Thanks.

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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1h5lkkl/how_does_one_fiqure_out_how_much_their_home_has/