Determining What Your Home Is Worth
What Is The Value Of My Home?
Ultimately, your home is worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it. So how do we determine what your home is worth? When estimating the value of your home, we can look at other recently sold comparable properties in order to make an informed estimate of what a buyer might pay. However, the market is always changing, and sold homes typically went into contract 30 to 60 days prior. Therefore, in a market like today where values are decreasing in some neighborhoods, looking at recently sold homes can be out of date.
The same is true for the opposite market trends last year, where values were rapidly increasing. For this reason, we will also look at currently listed comparable homes and their days on market to determine if the market is trending up or down and adjust your home’s value accordingly.
The trick here is in defining your comparable properties or “comps”. If you live in a new development where every home is similar, then this might not be so challenging (in this case, your Zillow estimate is probably more accurate too). However, if you factor in property upgrades, views, home improvements, and even just home maintenance, a home sold in your neighborhood may need to be adjusted to get a closer apples-to-apples comparison.
With my Compass Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) tool, we pair our expertise with live market data and comparable sales. I can provide you with a visual snapshot of your home’s value in today’s market and how it stacks up against others in the neighborhood.
While every property is unique, recently sold and competitively priced available properties with similar features can provide valuable comparisons for determining the appropriate likely selling price. The main components of a comparative market analysis are:
• Location
• Size
• Appearance & Condition
• Attributes & Amenities
• Current & Projected Market Trends
• Recent Comparable Sales
Each component for each property must be evaluated and adjusted. Typically we’ll include homes sold in the last 3 to 6 months, depending on the number of results.
We track the value of our bank account and the stock market, so why not regularly track the value of your home (it’s likely one of your largest investments). We provide a detailed home valuation to our clients annually. If you’d like a home valuation for your property, please contact us.
If you are considering selling your home, there is never a guarantee how many buyers will show up with an offer and we also can’t control how much emotional value a buyer might put on a property above the perceived market value.
Therefore, when it comes to actually listing your home for sale, we’ll discuss additional strategies for defining the list price for your home, property prep, and marketing to maximize the value of your home sale. Homes priced right sell quicker and for more money. Overpricing is a seller’s biggest mistake. Let’s chat!
