Market value is the amount prospective buyers are willing to pay at the time homeowners are ready to sell. Now you may ask – how do I find out the market value of my home? Well, the best way to ensure that you get the best price is to obtain an honest Comparable Market Analysis (CMA). You can get a CMA from your qualified, professional real estate agent.
The market analysis will include homes in your area that are currently on the market, expired from the market, pending a sale, expired and already sold within the last three to six months. Of course, the best indicator of your home’s value is the price for similar homes in your area that have already been sold. The comparison is based on the proximity to your home and the similarity of characteristics such as lot size, square footage, number of bedrooms and baths, other home amenities, etc.
It’s a good idea to sit down with your agent to discuss how each factor of the market analysis affects your home’s value. You can consider current listings to identify the competition, recently sold homes to indicate what buyers are willing to pay, homes with a sale pending to show the current demand and expired homes to suggest what buyers are unwilling to pay. Quality real estate Web sites may offer tools that help you determine how some of these factors affect your home’s value, but an agent is always the most reliable source. Some Web sites will simply interpret data from places like a county auditor site, but not take other important aspects into consideration. To ensure accuracy, work with an agent.
Suggestions for what to do are always accompanied with what not to do – and here are a few “don’ts” when deciding the value of your home:
- Avoid the urge to price your home based on factors that don’t affect the market value
- Avoid personal factors including how much money you need to buy your next home
- Avoid how much you paid for your current home
- Avoid how much you paid for home improvements
- Avoid the value of similar homes in different communities, area appreciation statistics
- Avoid the cost to build the same home today
- Avoid personal attachment.
Discovering how much your home is worth is the first step to ensure that your home is priced correctly. So, take the time, do the research and talk with your experienced real estate agent. Together you can decide what the best price is in today’s market.