Are you thinking of selling your home? If so, have you decided what you should sell it for? How did you come up with the sales price? Did you ask a real estate agent for help? Did you get an appraiser to give you an appraisal?
There are many options and methods to determine the value of your home. If you are getting a mortgage then you will have to use an appraiser to find out your home's value.
If you need to get a value for some type of estate settlement because of a divorce or death an appraisal again will probably be the best and only option that satisfies the legal system. But, for other reasons like speculation about what you could sell your home for, or what you home might appraiser for in a refinance, or if you were going to do some upgrades you may consider speaking with a real estate agent.
For more information on other methods to determine your home's value see: How Do I Know What My Home Is Worth?
Find A Real Estate Agent To Determine Your Home's Value
If you are considering selling your home a great place to start is with a real estate agent. Yes, you can sell your home on your own. This is called For Sale By Owner and many people have sold their homes this way. But, there are many more that have started selling their home on their own but after some period of time with no results have opted to use a real estate agent to help market and sell their home.
No matter whether you are planning on selling your home now or in the future a real estate agent can give you a very good idea what your home is worth.
Real Estate Agents Value Your Home Using Comparable Market Analysis
Comparative Market Analysis reports – CMA - by a real estate agent will include in their search homes in several categories: similar homes listed for sale but not sold yet, cancelled or expired listings, homes for sale with pending sales on them, and sold homes. Probably the most relevant of these homes listed are the homes that have sold as this is what any appraiser will be using to establish the value of your home if a homebuyer were to come along and want to get financing.
Agents will also search and include homes in the CMA that are similar in size, location, proximity to employment centers, mass transit lines and hubs, commercial shopping centers, sports facilities, schools and other important factors. They want to give you as much information as they can to help assist you in getting the right value/price established for your home.
Some real estate agents might charge you for a CMA and some won’t. Either way, their CMA should be useful in helping you establish your home's value. Agents do these reports all the time as they know that at some point many of the homeowners who they help out with a CMA will eventually look them up to have them help sell their home.
Real Estate Agents Base Their Value on Future Value Right Now
Appraisers take into consideration in their appraisals primarily sold homes, which are homes sold in the past. They tell the real estate story in the past. Real estate agents not only look at past sales, but they combine past sales with current market trends
Real estate agents know what prices homes sell for. They know how to price not only according to what other homes are selling for in a particular area, but they know how home buyers are making offers. All of this knowledge helps you if you use a real estate agent to determine the listing price for your home. Using a real estate agent who knows their market also helps you in setting a home value and sales price that is matched realistically to what market factors suggest your home should be priced at.
Remember, if their advice is free it never hurts to ask a real estate agent what your home is worth.
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