Star Valley, like many rural real estate markets, is very unique! Almost every piece of land has an easement of some type - electric and telephone utilities, irrigation ditches or distribution lines, access, road or highway easements (in many cases the property line will be the center of a road!). For the most part, the vast majority of homes have wells for culinary water and septic tanks for sewage.

Surveys, water quality testing, septic tank pumping type issues are the norm rather than the exception!

The industry standard of determining a price for a house is the Comparable Market Analysis (CMA). Ideally, a CMA will show exactly what properties that are similar to your home sold for within a recent time frame.

"Similar" properties and "recent sales" in Star Valley are very different than those in the "Big City." Finding comparable homes that are within 350 square feet is tough, if not impossible in most cases. Close proximity - same neighborhood - does not exist! It is not unusual at all to have comparable homes in Alpine, Thayne, Star Valley Ranch and Afton. The distance from Alpine to Thayne is 19-miles. Afton is another 19-miles further south.

Another unique problem is lot size. One comp may be on a 0.50-acre parcel complete with CC&R's ... the next on a 5-acre parcel adjacent to the National Forest. One may have Cedar siding, another hardiboard and yet another half-log, vinyl or aluminum. When it comes to making adjustments ... it becomes almost an art!

Determining price is part science, part luck and a lot of local knowledge! I think one of the advantages of living and working in the communities we serve gives us (local realtor) a distinct advantage over our "out-of-town" competitors. In many cases we know property idetails that are not a part of the MLS data. This includes, who built the home, previous owners, how many times its sold and why and much ... much more.

Recently, I lost a listing to an out-of-town competitor (it happens!). That agent now has the home listed as a "Stick Built Off-Site" (modular). Based on that entry, the home is way over priced! In reality, the home was "stick-built-on-site" by one of the areas premier builders.

Oh well ...

Have a GREAT week!