Tools to Sell Your Home
If you've been thinking about putting your home on the market, you may have a few questions about the process. Specifically, how should your real estate agent come up with a fair price for your home?
The answer is simple: Your agent will use a comparative market analysis (CMA) determine the right list price. Those Quick Online House Value Estimates are not a replacement for a professional CMA.
If you're curious about how this report helps, read on below. This post will clue you in on what a CMA is, different factors that you should consider when reading over one, and how it will ultimately help you to sell your home.
What is a comparative market analysis (CMA)?
Put simply, a comparative market analysis is report that real estate agents prepare for their clients when helping them decide on a fair list price for their homes. Though the exact makeup of the report can vary from agent to agent, it always showcases other properties that are either currently on the market or have recently sold.
The purpose of a CMA is to help sellers get a sense of what their home is worth in the current market. It helps lend social proof to the agent’s suggested list price by providing similar properties - and their sale prices - as a basis for comparison. A CMA is not an appraisal.
You may be interested in reading Getting the Maximum Appraisal Value for Your Home
Factors to consider when looking at a CMA
That said, no two homes are exactly alike and neither is their pricing. Since a CMA compares multiple properties, it gives the sellers a price range within which their property fits. Whether their property belongs at the high end or the low end of that price range depends on many factors that are unique to the property itself.
Here are the three main factors that get taken into consideration when pricing a home for sale:
Look at the Location
Recent Sales & Market Conditions
Home Features & Condition
You may be interested in reading about Things That Do NOT Factor into Home Values
How a CMA can help sell your home
Truth be told, choosing the correct list price is one of the best things that sellers can do to attract interested buyers. A CMA helps sell properties by providing guidance for the list price.
After all, when a property goes on the market, it’s effectively in competition with all of the other available homes in that same price range. If a home is listed too high, it will likely be passed over by buyers in favor of other properties that have more to offer for the price.
However, when a home is priced correctly, buyers are more inclined to want to view the property because they feel that they’re getting enough for the for their money. The more showings a property has, the more likely it is to receive an offer.
