Why is pricing your house RIGHT so important?
The biggest problem people have when selling their home is pricing their unit right.
Why is it, that most homes don't sell at or near full price? Everyone loves a bargain, but not every unit is a bargain.
In my city, we just received our statements regarding our property values for tax notice. Now that's opening up a can of worms. Folks are calling me asking, "How can my value go up (according to the city) when prices are still falling"?
Or, ZESTIMATE says my home is worth more, or less, then the city says. Another askes, "Why does the city have a big difference in the value of my home when I just had it appraised and the report came back much lower then the city?"
Still another said, "I know the market here." With all due respect, do you really?
Let's take a look at some of the factors that effect the numbers.
We are talking about Comparative pricing, that is looking at other units just like mine. We need to understand that we are comparing "apples to apples." When appraisers look at similar units and add or subtract value accordingly. See my post on Appraisals.
New York City uses a system that estimates the value of your unit based on recent sales of comparable units. However, it does not consider certain factors that might effect the real value, such as if your unit needs updating or repairs that buyers will see when they visit the property.
Consider this example. House A sold for $480,000 a few months ago, that I would have priced lower because it needed about $100,000 worth of repair and updating. My thoughts are that there was something about this unit that the buyers were really interested in to make that offer.
House B also sold around this same time period, also for $480,000. This unit was a cream puff, a dolls house. Two years ago it would have sold for over $500,000 yet if you looked it up on Zillow before it sold, it would have been quoted lower. Sometimes it's estimated higher. Now of course if you look it up, it reflects the recent sold price.
There are other examples that I could make the point that pricing can be off as much as $100,000 in extreme cases. Unless you really know the market in a certain area, it's a guess no matter what resource you use. As I stated above, even the city can be off quite a bit. So it's a factor of having "incomplete" in information. An agent who know the area, uses several resources for information, visits the insides of properties for sale, and tracks the sales records is the person to go to for expert opinion. Even then, the evaluation can be off a little. The final proof is in the sale price. So if you're looking to sell, check the agent's marketing program and sales history to be sure you get the best person to help you.
If you want to see more about how I market homes, please go to my website, or give me a call and I'll go over all the details with you. My cell number is 917-696-0275
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