If you are considering selling your home, more than likely one of, if not THE, most important factors in taking that leap is “how much could I sell my home for in today’s market?” And the natural inclination is to jump onto sites like Zillow or even the tax assessor’s website to see what value they put on your property, however, we urge you to use caution when reviewing this data for a number of reasons. First, the tax assessor’s estimated value might be based off data that is a couple of years old and sites like Zillow are basing their estimates on the basic features of recently sold properties – number of bedrooms and bathrooms, square footage, lot size, etc. But those factors alone don’t give you a truly accurate representation of market value (see our blog post titled “But Zillow Says My Home is Worth [Insert Number Here]”).
For example, did the homes that sold have a completely remodeled kitchen? Was the master bedroom actually a master suite? Did appliances stay with the property? What was the overall condition of the home? Did the seller have to make any concessions before closing due to inspection items? Chances are, your home isn’t an exact match to one of those that sold so it is important to look at these important characteristics and the details of the transaction as a comparison to help guide your pricing discussion.
We can help make sense of all of the data by putting together a competitive market analysis (CMA) and help assign dollar values to the features that your home has so that you reach a sales price that is appropriate for your home based on upgrades and condition, as well as neighborhood. And since a proper pricing strategy is critical to a successful sale, you want to make sure you aren’t leaving any money on the table or missing that prime window of opportunity to attract the highest number of buyers if your property is priced too high right out of the gate.
If you’d like us to put together a CMA on your behalf, follow this link and let us know.
