Accurate List Pricing is Crucial to Quickly Selling Your Home
There are so many data points to consider when you’re putting your house up for sale. Online valuations like Zillow, Homes.com, etc. Interviewing multiple Realtors for their style and strategy, Town assessments, and more.
Online valuations are valuable tools, but reliably offer just a general feel for local market conditions and often lag behind real market conditions. They don’t take into consideration changing market conditions or the home’s presentation either. Local assessments are not based on actual value, but on complex revenue calculations of the town itself and are routinely way, way off on actual market value. The best source of information for someone selling their home is interviewing a bunch of Realtors. Get to know them, their strategies and tactics. What they’ll actually provide for you, frequent open houses, professional photography, online, social media and boots on the ground outreach, etc. They’ll also provide comparative market analyses(CMA’s), estimates of value to use as a listing price, based on the most recent(3 Mo max or sooner is the target) comparable homes in the immediate area and refined by detailed adjustments for differing features in each home.
The hopeful listing agent who provides you with the highest list price estimate for your home may not be the best choice as your listing agent. Are they “buying” your listing with a high estimate, which will need to be reduced after a few weeks of no activity? Compare the CMA’s of the Realtors you interview and look for consensus. Check out the comps. Are they actually comparable to your home. A 4-bed colonial might not be a good comp for a 2-bed campanelli ranch. Look for the adjustments, which are also opinions of the Realtor, for items like central A/C, generators or other features of your home. Are the estimates in line with current costs? A typical central A/C is not worth a bump of $20K in a home’s value. A bonus room might be.
Here’s an article from MA Real Estate News with more tips that should prove super-helpful to thinking about readying your home for sale: https://massrealestatenews.com/house-pricing/ . I, like most Realtors, don’t charge a dime for consults or CMA visits. Having a bunch of us in for a talk gives a broad range of perspectives and allows you to check us out. See who you feel the most comfortable with and who’s strategies and tactics work best for you. You owe it to yourself to get that broad perspective to base your future plans on the best foundation. And, Most importantly…
Have Fun!
Lew McConkey,
Brook Realty, Serving Whitman Hanson & Surrounding Towns
(781)252-9789
If you have questions about your place in the current Real Estate market, as a buyer, seller or Landlord,
Please feel free to call text or email for your free, no obligation consultation.