cma house appraisal

Answer:

To get a professional opinion on where to price your house, you have 3 options:

1. Schedule a professional appraisal.

The cost can vary, but a typical professional appraisal is usually $300-$350.Considering the importance of the pricing decision and the impact of a potentially wrong decision, it’s not a bad investment.

A professional appraisal will give the most reliable estimate of value.

REMEMBER: If you are convinced your property will appraise high, the appraisal can be used as a sales tool.

2. Call some real estate agents for CMAs.

You can call a number of real estate agents, who will all eagerly do a CMA (Comparable Market Analysis) for free, in the hope that you will list your home with them. The problem is that agents often have their own agendas. One will under-price your home in the hope of a quick and easy commission. Another will overprice it to tell you what you want to hear just to get the listing – fully expecting you will lower the price later. The other problem is that you have to deal with these agents and spend a lot of time listening to their sales pitches (not always fun).

3. Have us do a CMA for you.

This is included with any of our listing packages, and we don’t slant the data to serve any agenda. It is not always critical to see the house to get a reliable estimate of value. Agents will tell you it’s essential because it’s a good excuse to get in your house and give you a sales pitch in person. The more similar the homes in your neighborhood are, the more reliable a CMA will be. Prices will be more variable in older neighborhoods, where some homes have been completely redone and others are still original vintage.

Things you can do on your own:

1. Drive around your neighborhood. You are looking at your competition because potential buyers that are looking at your house will be looking at these houses as well. Pick a weekend and see if there are any open houses you can snag a cookie at!

2. Do some online searches on MLS websites like Realtor.com. Buyers typically search by price range and zip and scroll through the listings for the biggest & nicest houses in their price range. A good rule of this that homes will sell for about 5% less than the online price.

3. Check what new homes are selling for and what incentives the builders are offering. You can count on the fact that you will not sell your home for more than what a comparable new one is going for in your area. In fact, you need to be at least 5% under their prices. Click here to learn more about how to price your home against a new home.