Knowing your home’s value allows you to evaluate what you can afford, determine whether a listing is priced appropriately and decide how to price your own home. It is a huge factor when it comes to buying a home. Avoiding an overpay is paramount, it won’t just cost you in the moment, it will affect your equity for years down the road. Some quick advice to ensuring you match value with price, courtesy of the experts from the Hammonds Group.
Valuation Tools
Thanks to the internet, valuation has never been easier. There are several databases that have records of homes across the country, changing in real time with transactions in order to give an up to date appraisal of homes in their current condition, the status of the market, and the quality of the neighborhood and homes in the area. 22% of U.S. homeowners used an online estimator to determine home value. These Automated Valuation Models that are readily available, giving you the ability to get an in-depth idea of your home’s value at the drop of the hat. The largest shortcoming with an AVM is the reliance on the last transaction, most data will be outdated, creating the potential for incorrect figures if changes have been made or appreciation/depreciation has occurred.
Hire an Appraiser
While an appraiser usually comes into the process to approve a mortgage, they can also be brought in to help accurately estimate a home’s value. According to a recent survey, over 1/4 th of U.S. homeowners determined their home’s value through an appraisal prior to selling. Often, the last transaction will not include any updates or improvements made to the home, and buyers might balk if you up the price without AVMs or real estate sites not reflecting those changes. Hiring an appraiser is a great way to get a hard figure for what you should be charging, to justify any price increases. Additionally, they take more than just the home into account, an appraiser will also look at the current market, the state of the neighborhood, the current condition of the nuts and bolts of the home, and everything in between to give an accurate figure of the home’s current value.
No matter how desperate you are to offload a home, how quickly you’d like to move, or any other reason to not do due diligence when it comes to value your home, reconsider. Your home is your equity, and one bad deal can not only keep you from profiting or even just breaking even, a bad real estate deal can harm your equity for years in the future. Taking the extra step of proper valuation helps to ensure that you will get close to the proper price for your home, letting demand then take that price higher as the market and the interested parties dictate.
For a team that can handle every aspect of a home sale, from valuation, to listing, to close, The Hammonds Group is the easy choice. Our in-house appraisal team will make the process easier and more streamlined, so you can enjoy the ease of the process, while still reaping the benefits of your thoroughness.
Let’s talk today, and begin the journey of bringing your house to market.