In The Beginning....
The most important part of selling or buying a home is to know what it is worth. It is threshold, foundational. If one does not know correct value with some degree of certainty, then all other decisions and actions be they in the affirmative or by omission are just folly. If there is hundereds of thousands, maybe a million dollars or more on the table, and you don’t know the answer to this question then you are not giving just due to the issue in front of you. You are setting yourself up for one of my War Stories.
When I value your home the first thing that I must do, presuming I have already visited your home so I know what your home is, is to now figure out what it is that you have. That is to say, the market in which you compete. This is huge. From this flows all sorts of things. First and foremost is value. What can we secure from the market based on what it is. The next big thing is marketability. What is the demand for your home. What should be expected in terms of time on the market. Who is your most likely buyer and why. If we know that then we know how and to whom we should market it. Contact Me
Do you know how many classes are offered for determining value or markets in the process of intially securing a real estate license. That would be zero. Do you know how many classes are offered for continuing education in determining value and markets. That would be zero. Instead the classes offered us are in licensing law, fair housing standards, and how to market to and manipulate you better. I have never seen a class offered on negotiation techniques either. Contact Me
This is why so many homes stay on the market too long. Or worse, money is left on the table. Too many of us have no idea what we are doing. With the technology available to us Realtors today, we can produce a slick canned product called a CMA. It gives you in a very nice glitzy packaged output a report which gives you absolutely nothing. But by god it is pretty and big company agent or big time seller has given to you in a full color bound presentation and therefore it must be right…and the gospel. Not only that, but they worked hard to research and analyze the market. They must be sharp, they must be an expert….truly knowledgable.
I produced the above CMA in under 5 minutes with the canned algorithmic program on our own MLS. It gives you such great conclusions like highest sale, lowest sale, average price, median price. You’re kidding me right? If this is all it took…then why do we need Realtors? Why is Zillow or Trulia not the end all be all. Why are 50% of assessed values in Marion County wrong? Why is every water front lot assessed at under $200,000 when the last 50 sales are over $400,000. Because the residential market is complex. It must be studied. Your home put into proper context given what it is in terms of size, condition, amenity package, location, layout….these are things that computer cannot yet do and in terms of bringing methodology to the process my peers are not trained. Contact Me.
The point is that valuation is critical to get it right. Markets and sub markets do reveal themselves and if you don't get this part right you leave yourself open to all sorts of perils. The valuation process creates the path which will be taken and properly sets your expectations. Finally, my peers do not possess, nor are they offered any training the determining markets and valuation. Contact Me.