You have decided to sell your home and have asked me to come over and meet with you and get you ready to go on the market. What do we do next? I have you give me a tour of your home. During that tour you tell me about all of the recent improvements you have done and I also note upgrades that your home has. For example granite countertops rather than laminate, large yard backing to open space rather than a yard in the middle of the neighborhood surrounded by other homes. After this meeting I take all of this information back to the office.
Next, I sit at the computer and start doing my research. I am looking first a homes in the neighborhood that have sold in the last 3 months that are similar. Then I look at homes that have sold nearby that are similar. By similar I mean first that the are approximately the same square footage. The homes that I am comparing to your home should have finished basements if you do and if you don’t the best homes to compare you to should not have a finished basement either. Then I look to see that they are the same style. It is important to compare ranch style homes to ranch homes, two stories to two stories and bi-levels to bi-level homes. Then I look to see that the homes that I am comparing to your home have the same number of baths and same number of garage spaces. Then I check to see the number of bedrooms. This will often give me a price range. I will see a home that is clearly better than you and one that is not as quite as nice. Those two homes have set the range. Next, I look within that range for the homes that are as close to like your home as possible. Similar upgrades etc. After this research I should be able to give you a $10,000 to $15,000 range of what I think your home will sell for in today’s market.
In addition to doing the research myself, I also have my licensed assistant do the same research. He is able to have an objective look. He does not know you and did not see your home. I share with him important details and he arrives at homes that he thinks are comparable to your home and a value for your home. We then meet and review the information. Sometimes we arrive at different values and have come up with different comparable properties. If that is the case we review and decide what should be included in my report and what should be left out. Perhaps I forgot to tell my assistant that you have remodeled your kitchen. Not knowing that will affect the value of your home. By having both of us do this research, you are getting two opinions wrapped into one report on your home.
Next, I get back together to review the completed report. We look at the value and also how long it appears that it will take you sell your home. If you want your home to sell faster than the average length of time that similar homes have taken to sell you may need to adjust your price to have your home sell faster. If you are comfortable with the value of your home and the time line, then we are ready to go on to the next steps to put your home on the market.
Next week we will cover what those next steps are.