How much is my home worth?
Homeowners often wonder what their home is worth, and this is not an easy question to answer. The only definitive answer to what a home is worth is what it sells for / what a person is willing to pay for it, but people often want to get a clear picture of their home’s worth without or before selling it. You might need to know so you can plan to borrow some of the equity, or you might want to know what it’s worth before deciding if you should sell it or not.
The best way to know what your home is worth is by having your real estate agent create a Comparative Market Analysis, or CMA.
A CMA is usually done in a few steps.
You reach out to your real estate agent, and let them know you’d like an estimate of your home’s value.
Your agent will ideally be able to see inside the home. As an alternative, you could give them a detailed description of the inside of the home, and they could check out the exterior to get a sense of the curb appeal and neighborhood.
Next, your agent will search the database of listings to find recently-sold homes that are similar to yours. They will typically focus on sold homes, since those give the best indication of a home’s true value. They will look back anywhere from 6 months to a year, depending on how many homes have sold that are very similar to yours.
Your agent will then compile a report showing key information about these sales, including photos and descriptions of the key features.
The report will typically show several mathematical analyses of the sales, including an average sale price and an average price per square foot.
These numbers will provide a price range that your home should sell within.
Of course, the value indicated by a CMA is not definite, and the only true way to know a home’s worth is to list it and sell it. But for planning purposes, a CMA is the best way to arrive at a home’s value.
If you’re curious what your home is worth, reach out anytime!
