What Is My House Worth?

The second you start to entertaining the idea of selling your own house, the first thing you ask yourself is, “What is my house worth”?

It is human nature for owners to harbour an overblown opinion about the value of their possessions, be it a child’s outgrown bicycle or a used automobile. Nowhere is this more apparent than in what a homeowner thinks his property is worth.

Setting market value

How can you realistically calculate what your home will sell for? Something that will have an impact and over which you have no control is the market.

If interest rates have jumped to restrictive heights and people can’t afford to re-mortgage at the higher rate, the market will be swamped with homes and prices will be low. You’ll be caught up inthe disparity of a buyer’s market. Barring that, there are three ways you can answer the question, "whats my house worth"?

Ask a Real Estate Agent

One is to call in three local real estate agents. Tell them you plan to list your home privately, and ask if they will help you determine a listing price. Why would they want to do this when they won’t be earning a commission on the sale?

Most agents believe that individual homeowners have a remote chance of selling their own home. They assume that after a few months have passed and you haven’t been successful, you’ll be knocking on their door to list.

I caution you not to get excited at the figures they suggest. It is not beyond credibility that an agent will bring you an unrealistically high number so you will price it for that, and never get an offer because the price is inflated.

When your house does’n’t sell, they reckon you will come back to them with the listing. There is less chance of this happening if you approach three from different agencies to do the appraisal.

Compare Other Homes

An alternative system requires immense effort on your part and may end up being a total waste of time. I’m talking about a comparative market analysis.

That sounds very official and definitive, but to my mind, it’s about as accurate as putting 10 prices in a hat, tossing them up in the air and picking the first one that hits the floor. However, it’s a process often used by the real estate industry.

As its name suggests, a comparative market analysis is a system to compare homes similar to yours that are currently on themarket or that were sold in the past six months.

You don’t want to consider anything that sold outside that time frame because the price may not reflect current market conditions.

Learn this method at Free House Appraisal.

According to experts who believe in the system, this is an accurate reflection of what your home is worth. But is it?

Much of the information is not reliable. For example, shouldn't’ you consider the difference in listing price over actual sales price for the homes you are comparing? No one can predict withany certainty what that home four blocks away will sell for.

And how unbiased can you, the owner, be when estimating how much more or less a stranger’s home is compared yours?

The system is not a straight forward process of evaluating two homes built in the same year with identical floor plans on the same street on comparable size lots, finished with the same quality of materials.

Get a Professional Appraisal

The best person to answer the question, “what is my house worth”, is a professional real estate appraiser. It will cost a little bit of money, but if you’re selling your house yourself, it’s worth every penny.

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