Print out a list of
comparable homes in the neighborhood to provide to the appraiser.
Research the assessed value of other
comparable homes in your neighborhood; if they're being assessed differently, you may have a case for relief.
You will need to take into account the condition of your home, what
comparable homes in your neighborhood are selling for, and state of the overall market in your area.
Before making an offer, check the recent sales prices of
comparable homes in the neighborhood to see how the seller's asking price stacks up.
Others use recent sales of
comparable homes in the neighborhood, and you may be able to challenge the assessment by doing your own research.
Not exact matches
Your
home appraiser will calculate the value of your
home by conducting an
in - person walk - through of the
home to record its square footage, the number of bedrooms and baths and condition — comparing it to county records and recent sales of similar properties
in comparable neighborhoods.
If you add a pool, not only can you entertain and throw pool parties, you can increase
comparable values and make your
home more valuable than others
in your
neighborhood.
Look online at listings for
homes that have sold recently, or look for figures on recent sales
in your
neighborhood or of
comparable homes.
The reasons for this boom are multifold: MHI reports that manufactured
homes can run 20 percent to 50 percent less per square foot than
comparable site - built
homes; 60 percent of them are now installed on private property instead of
in so - called mobile
home parks (25 states have passed laws making it illegal to discriminate against putting manufactured
homes in site - built
neighborhoods); and they can be erected
in five to eight weeks.
Scott Williams, with Prudential California Realty
in Santa Barbara, Calif., has a unique Web site called Prime Voyage.Among its other features, this site enables
home owners to interactively create a real - time CMA of their property that takes into account differences
in square footage, condition, time since sale, and other factors from
comparables found
in their
neighborhood using a Google Map interface.
Educate: Educate the buyer on the area, what
comparable homes are selling for, the average price per square foot
in the
neighborhood, and every stage
in the buying process.
Tom did an excellent job of finding
comparables for what must have been a relatively difficult property to appraise: a small, older
home in a good school district, situated
in a once semi-rural
neighborhood that is now becoming attractively developed.
This report asks the appraiser a number of questions, including what the
home's interior and exterior look like, what
neighborhood it's located
in and what nearby
comparable sales there are.
But to really ensure that your
home will sell fast, be sure the upgrades that you carry out before you sell it are
comparable with other houses
in your
neighborhood.
After you find the right
home, your real estate agent will help you come up with and negotiate an appropriate offer based on the value of
comparable homes in the same
neighborhood.
If You Live
in An Older Neighborhood - As
neighborhoods change over time each
home may be different
in minor or substantial ways and you will probably find that there aren't many
homes truly
comparable to your own.
From HomeGain's March 9, 2000 press release: «HomeGain's highly popular valuation tool, for example, gives
home sellers an estimated
home price value range of their
home for free
in just 10 seconds, including
comparable sales figures for
homes in their
neighborhood.»
Second, what do the rents look like
in the
neighborhood currently for
comparable homes?
Conduct your own research on
comparable home sales
in the
neighborhood to validate pricing.
Comparables are similar
homes that have recently sold
in the general area or even that specific
neighborhood or subdivision.
Therefore, «listing your
home for less than
comparable ones
in your
neighborhood is the best way of unloading it as quickly as possible,» according to the article.
When they narrow
in on an effective price, real estate agents have access to
comparable home sales and
neighborhood information dating back years.
«When appraisers appraise a
home, there are a few different way that they can do that, but the vast majority of underwriters require that the valuation from the appraiser be based on
comparable properties
in their
neighborhoods,» says the Energy Department's Danielle Sass Byrnett, who supervises the residential side of the Better Buildings program.