After 15 years of working with buyers and sellers in our market, the most difficult aspect of the industry I’ve encountered is something people ask me about all the time: home values.
Why are values such a sticky subject? Well, the market is always changing; what a home is worth today may be completely different from what it will be worth in just a couple of months.
Therefore, it takes a true expert to help you nail down what your home is worth in today’s market, and there are four main areas of our market these experts will examine:
1. Inventory. In accordance with the rules of supply and demand, the number of homes currently available in our market will have a significant impact on how much any given property is worth. Knowing the level of inventory in your price bracket, specifically, is essential.
2. Current pending sales. By speaking to other local experts, your agent should be able to use information about current pending sales to inform their opinion on your home’s value. To do this, they’ll consider how long homes in your area and price point are taking to go under contract, and other relevant factors.
3. Comparable sales. One of the most reliable ways to determine home value is by assessing sales data from properties that are similar to yours within a local radius. Seeing what buyers paid for comparable homes is a good way to determine what your own property’s list price should be.
4. Expired or canceled listings. As important as it is to understand what does work in our market, it’s also important to know what doesn’t. Studying data from recently canceled listings can help inform your own pricing strategy.
With these four tips in mind, you may still be wondering if using an online valuation tool could be equally effective. Unfortunately, no. These algorithms are often flawed and tend to use outdated (or simply inadequate) data to generate figures that more often than not miss the mark. Truly, only an experienced local agent can tell you what your home is worth right now.
If you have any other questions, would like more information, or would like to speak about your home’s value, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
