Chances are the value of your home has changed since you purchased it. Its price will fluctuate year over year due to changes in your local market, natural appreciation, developments in your neighborhood, and any home improvements you’ve made. I recommend these 4 ways to get your home’s current market value.
Whether you’re planning on selling or staying put, it’s good practice to keep tabs on your real estate investment, and there are a few commonly used approaches that can help you gauge your property’s current market value.
Some home value estimates cost money to obtain, so they’re better saved for when you’re looking to sell or refinance your mortgage. You can also use various online tools for a quick-hit value estimate, but some are more accurate than others.
Here, we’ll dive into four ways to get your home’s current market value estimating tools and resources I recommend!
1. Reach out to your local expert, Beth Brake
While technology has helped remove a lot of the mystery surrounding real estate transactions, there’s no electronic substitute for the knowledge and experience of a real estate professional such as Beth Brake of GoalLine Real Estate. When it comes to pricing a home, an agent offers unique value that goes above and beyond what an online value estimator provides, including knowledge of the area, characteristics and condition of the property, local market trends, and buyer preferences.
If you are also interested in getting a price from buyers who have already “put in their criteria” and are looking for a home just like yours, please ask me about our “Buyer’s in Waiting” Program.
2. Use a reputable online estimator tool
Real estate valuations look a whole lot different today than they did in past decades. Thanks to advances in technology, it’s now possible to hop online, plug in an address, and get an instant estimate of what your home might be worth, this is called an automated valuation model (AVM). An AVM is a tool that uses mathematical modeling and tapping into a database of recent sales of the property in question, comparable sales in the area and other public data to come up with your estimated property value.
Check out my free home evaluation tool on my website at: http://www.goallinerealestateteam.com/
3. Find out what a cash buyer would offer
Yet another option for gauging the potential value of your home is to find out what a cash investor would pay for it. I have another tool to help you now how much a buyer is willing to pay, it’s called the “iBuyer” program, where there are “instant buyers” ready to buy your home!
When contacting a cash buyer could be the way to go:
- You need to sell quickly and don’t want to wait for the listing process.
- You want the flexibility of choosing your own closing date.
- You don’t want to have to worry about staging your home or opening it up for showings.
- You’re selling a property from afar and won’t be available to be physically involved in the sale.
- You don’t want to deal with making any repairs and would rather back out those costs from the purchase price.
- You want to have a “backup offer” in case the regular listing process doesn’t work out.
4. Call me for an appraisal
Most lenders will require a professional appraisal before finalizing a home loan, but it’s also possible to order your own appraisal to help determine the right sale price before listing. Beth Brake will put you in touch with an appraiser to help you order a pre-listing appraisal when selling a property that is unique, or when there aren’t many local comps.
Having an appraisal already in hand can help boost the seller’s credibility, justify the listing price, and help prevent lowball offers.
When it might make sense to get a pre-listing appraisal:
- The house has unique features that won’t be reflected in comps.
- There are limited (or no) sales comps in the area.
- You have an emotional connection or bias that may drive unrealistic pricing expectations, and you want an appraisal to serve as a reality check.
- The home has had recent upgrades or improvements.
- You want to get a more specific and accurate gauge of the home’s value, but don’t want to list it just yet.
Cosmetic upgrades, the age of your HVAC system, the condition of surrounding homes — there are countless details that go into the elusive value equation. You need to keep tabs on your property’s value to keep expectations in check and help guide your planning. Fortunately, you have options for crunching the numbers and determining where your home stands in the market and please use me as your resource to get top dollar!
Call me for your free home evaluation or use my online tool: http://www.goallinerealestateteam.com/
Beth Brake REALTOR®
Positively changing your life as you move toward your dreams.
214-769-2947