How Do I Determine the Right Price for my Home?

Selling it by myself.

The number one question people considering For Sale By Owner (FSBO) typically ask is:

“How do I determine the right price for my home?”

Pricing a home accurately is crucial because it directly impacts how quickly the home sells and how much money the seller ultimately makes. Setting the price too high can lead to the home sitting on the market too long, while pricing it too low can result in a loss of potential profit. Many FSBO sellers worry about how to find the sweet spot without the guidance of a real estate agent. It’s pretty easy.

I hate to rain on your parade, but an agent is probably not an appraiser. What agents do is a market analysis.

It’s an average of similar houses in the area. They can easily do this on the computer fairly quickly.

Appraisers are more precise, usually measuring your house from the outside, and taking into account any special features of it. They then hold these up against houses that sold recently, with similar features, called comparables.

Both procedures end up with an average figure of “dollars per square foot.”

Then, they take that figure and multiply it by the square feet in your house, and there, more or less, is the value of your house.

Most of my customers live in a neighborhood.

Some live in a more rural area north of town, an area packed with hills and small farm-ettes.

For most of us, we are aware of other sales in our neighborhood, and in many of the newer neighborhoods, we know what the inside of those houses probably look like.

So unless you happen to live in Farm-ette Estates, you already have a good idea of what the homes in your hood are bringing.

Getting an appraiser to do one will cost you a fair amount of money, and it probably will not be re-usable by the eventual buyer.

A flat fee broker, like me, will probably be taking a nap, and not offer it on the a la carte menu anyway.

A traditional agent can do it, but in return, they will expect to list your house themselves.

Since FSBO is a DIY job, that leaves you. If you haven’t already done so, you can access some “sold” houses in your area, and find an average per sq. ft. figure for your house. Depending on a market that is sometimes volatile, you may have to reduce your price at some point, so be ready.

This is all a process.

DON MARTIN HA BEEN A REAL ESTATE BROKER FOR 40 YEARS, AND WORKS WITH FSBOs at mlsDon.com

Photo by Matt Jones on Unsplash

Originally published at

https://thereasonablerealtor.com

on August 30, 2024.