How
to Estimate your Home's Value
How
much is your house worth?
The most important
first step you can make in selling a house is calculating an accurate fair
market value. Price your home too low and you may lose thousands. Price
your home too high and you may price yourself out of the market and never sell
your home.
A home priced too
high may sit on the market for a long time making it hard to get a good offer.
If your home is for sale for a long time (and buyers and agents
know how long your home has been for sale), a potential buyer will think you might
be getting desperate, so they will make low (and often insulting) offers. By overpricing
your home in the beginning, you could actually end up settling for a lower price
than you would have normally received.
Home
Value Tools & Resources:
There are several
ways to determine your home's value using the Internet—some are Free
and some are a minimal cost.
 ZipRealty.com
- FREE Home Estimate
Find out how much
your home is worth for Free on ZipRealty.com. Instantly get 3 home estimates.
Find
out what your home is worth!
HomeGain.com
- FREE Home Estimate
Get
an instant estimate of the value of your home at HomeGain.com. View a list of
homes recently sold in your neighborhood including the date sold and sale price.
Enter
your address in the box below to get a Free Online Estimate: |
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Zillow.com
- FREE Home Zestimate
FREE
- Zillow.com
has a powerful online tool which instantly
calculates a "zestimate" value of your home based on your square
footage, number of bedrooms and baths, homes sold recently in your neighborhood
and more. This amount changes daily as info is updated into their database.
ACCURACY: Zillow
claims to be within 10% accuracy of the value of the home. We find that because
of the mass amount of data going into Zillow's calculations everyday, the "zestimate"
of your home can vary by tens of thousands or more each and everyday. (For example,
a house we looked at was $430,000 one day and only $360,000 on another day.)
CONCLUSION:
Zillow
never claims that one should use the "zestimate" tool as a replacement
for an appraisal. Zillow encourages you to use the calculation as "a good
starting point" in researching the value of your home.
SCREENSHOT: |
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Conduct
your own research of Neighborhood Homes
- FREE
- Collect
real estate flyer's of neighborhood homes to compare to yours (FSBO's and Real
Estate Agent's).
- Pick
up local real estate books and newspapers to find properties for sale in your
neighborhood
- Attend
any "Open House" events of homes in your neighborhood
- Compare
your home to other properties based on the following:
- Type (Don't compare
your Home for sale to a Condo)
- Neighborhood (Compare
homes only in your neighborhood and school district)
- Size (Chose homes
similar in size to your home)
- Amenities &
Views (These can vastly increase or decrease the value or salability of a home:
Private pool, tennis courts, walking trails, lake views, mountain views, privacy,
street traffic, convenience, subdivision, curb appeal of surrounding homes)
- Number of Bedrooms,
Bathrooms
- Garage - none,
1 car, 2 car or more, street parking, ease of pulling out into the street
- Age of Home
- Style of Home
(Some homes can be harder to sell because they are very dated)
- Lot size, Landscaping
and upkeep
- School District
can be an important selling point!
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CMA
(Comparative Market Analysis)
A
CMA is an informal estimate of your home's market value compared to comparable
homes in your neighborhood. If you don't have the time to do your own research,
a real estate agent can whip one up in no time. If you are considering listing
with an agent, they will usually do a CMA for you at no charge. This will also
give you a great idea of what your asking price should be. This report is also
useful in helping you make the changes needed to make your home for sale more
desirable than your neighbor's home for sale.
Selling
Your Home?
Let REALTORS Compete For Your Business!
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Get
an Appraisal by a local Appraiser -
$200.00 to $400.00
A
certified appraiser will come to your home to perform a physical valuation of
your home at a given point in time. This is usually very affordable, ranging from
$200 - $400. An appraisal carries a lot of weight in justifying your asking price
with potential buyers. The appraisal will give you a very good estimate on a realistic
listing price that is reasonable and competitive.
The
appraisal takes into consideration such things as:
-
Home's square footage
-
Construction quality
-
Home design
-
Floor plan & layout
-
The neighborhood
-
Convenience to shopping, schools, and transportation
-
Lot size, topography, landscaping and views
Additional
Costs to consider in selling your home
As you calculate
your Asking Price, consider those extra costs of selling your home (or preparing
your home to sell) such as improvements, repairs and advertising. Include budget
in your selling incentives. For instance, you may want to offer a "cash back
at closing carpet allowance" if your carpet is old or a non-neutral color.
People love to know they will get cash back at closing.
Test
the Waters
It's
critical that your home be competitive in price. Buyers do comparative shopping
and act fast on a good deal. A good priced home will attract attention and generate
activity from home buyers and brokers. If you aren't seeing any traffic from buyers,
it is a clear indication that the listing price is not satisfying the marketplace
test.
Leave
room for negotiation
Buyers like to
know they are getting a good deal. If you list your house for $250,000 and refuse
to negotiate an offer received of $245,000, your potential Buyer may not feel
that you are a willing participate in this "negotiation".
If $250,000 is
your goal for this sale, you may want to set your price slightly higher so there
is room for negotiation... about $260,000 to $265,000. But don't price it too
high or you won't get any phone calls. If you receive an offer and "negotiate"
to your desired price of $250,000 - then your goal is met and the buyer is also
happy to have gotten a good deal.
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