After establishing your sale objectives, the next step is to establish a price for your property. At Navigation Real Estate, we view the pricing of your home as a collaborative effort between you and your agent.
Our role in the pricing of your home is to provide you insight into current trends in home sales in your neighborhood and area. This price guidance is based on recently sold properties and current listings of homes comparable to yours. We then consult with you to arrive at a competitive sale price that meets your needs and fits within your timeline for selling.
We utilize perform the following steps in assisting you in the pricing your home:
Identify your needs
The most important component of pricing a home is to identify your home sale needs. When devising your sale strategy, we take into account your general needs such as desired sale price as well as other needs such as employment relocation or family changes. Some sellers will require a fast sale for employment or familial changes, while other Sellers will prefer to hold out for the highest maximum price. Whatever your individual needs may be, you can be assured that the price of your home will reflect your home selling objectives.
Comparable market analysis (CMA)
A traditional comparative market analysis, or CMA, is a presentation containing the sale price of several different homes that have sold in your neighborhood. However, we take the old CMA several steps further. We not only compile recent home sales for your review, but we also consult various other resources before presenting our CMA.
Among the resources utilized in our proprietary CMA presentation include:
- Recently-listed comparable properties
- Price reductions on currently-listed comparable properties
- Expired or canceled listings of comparable properties
- For-sale-by-owner and online resources such as zillow.com and craigslist.
Market research
It is also important to conduct research into any factors affecting comparable sales to determine whether the sale price was influenced by factors other than the Seller’s pricing decision. Such other factors include distress-sales, foreclosures, or a trustee sale in connection with a bankruptcy filing. These factors can significantly discount the true value of the comparable sale.
Identify attributes of comparable homes
It is also important to conduct research into the specific attributes of the homes utilized as comparables. Even though a recent home sale occurred in your neighborhood and may be approximately the same square footage as your home, other differences between the homes may result in a substantially different purchase price. Attributes such as lot size, home siding, the type of roof, lot size, and home amenities may result in a difference of thousands of dollars despite the fact that the comparable home is substantially similar to yours.
Tax assessments
The tax assessed value of your property and other homes around you should also be consulted when selecting the sale price of your home. The tax assessed value is actually two values: 1.The actual home or structure and 2. The land upon which the home resides. If a recent assessment reveals unusual appreciation then this may be indicative of an upward trend in market conditions that should be reflected in the price of your home. Conversely, if an assessment reveals stagnation or a price decrease this should also be weighed when making your pricing decision.
Compare the condition of your home
After researching comparable home sales and listings, the next step of the pricing process is to assess the condition of your home relative to those comparable home sales. We advise all Sellers to obtain a pre-listing inspection. The inspection will reveal any problems with your home’s foundation, roof, siding, windows, plumbing, heating, insulation and other structural systems. After conducting the inspection, it will also be necessary to obtain cost estimates for the repairs. If your home requires maintenance, repairs or upkeep, the dollar amount of labor and materials must be reflected in the purchase price.
Sale price
After providing you with a CMA, we will outline your options and make pricing recommendations based on our findings and your selling needs. Once you have set the sale price, we continue to perform market research to identify and review changing pricing trends.
Questions
We welcome your questions regarding the pricing of your home for sale. Please feel free to contact us anytime at: (206) 909-8777 (toll-free: 1-800-206-6612), or by email at: info@navigationre.com.
