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We all know that for almost five years now the national real estate outlook has been less than ideal and that also means the media highly focuses on the overall gloom and doom of our property markets. But what should matter most to you is what is happening in your own market. How does your property measure up to the others in the neighborhood and what makes your home worth more or less than those other homes? To help answer some questions and also, more importantly, show you how to figure out what your home is worth, here are some key factors used by Realtors when they have been asked to make professional assessments.
Gather Background Information
Knowing the background of your property from start to finish is an important factor in helping to understand where it stands in terms of value. When was it built? What materials were used in construction? Was it manufactured in tune with other homes in the area? In what condition was the home in when first purchased, if purchased from previous owners? Finally, what modifications have you made, if any, in the time you have been residing there? These questions and anything else you can think of that will help in comparing your property to others nearby will be useful.
Figure Out Appreciation/Depreciation Values of Area Homes
How neighborhood properties size up have a lot of impact on how yours will – so one of the best ways to figure out where yours stands is to study the appreciation and depreciation that occurs in those homes. Particularly the ones that came up around the same time as yours and have recently been sold. By looking over those properties and getting a look at the types of improvements that have been made to them, you can calculate annual appreciation for them and then come up with an average. This will at least give you a glimpse into what you may be able to expect.
Build In Returns On Investment Made Toward Your Property
Making improvements to a home almost always yields a reasonable Return On Investment. Your ROI, of course, will depend on the type of improvements and renovations you make and the areas of your home that you make them in. Some changes garner greater returns, such as improving and expanding a kitchen, adding walk-in closets or furnishing a basement. Once you have added up the expenditures of your improvements – enough to be able to calculate your ROI, you can also compare your remodeling costs versus the value by reviewing easily available annual reports that show which improvements yield what kinds of returns.
Get a Feel For the Competition
Focusing on recent sales and current active listings – try to get an idea of the competition, just to see what it looks like and get the bigger picture of what buyers are seeing.
Add Up All The Facts and End Up With a Value Range
When you assemble the various levels of information you have gathered, the puzzle pieces fit together into a fairly easy to understand assessment of what your property should be valued at. In fact, you will have a value range that you will need to hone once you take a careful look at your own property in comparison to outsiders’ data.
Don’t Set Yourself Up For Disappointment
Being armed with the information you need to put together some numbers is not enough. It’s very important to remain realistic and keep in mind that you need to price it so that it will indeed sell. By nailing the price up front your chances of a successful sale greatly increase – and better yet you will get the price you want.
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Going through the motions to assess the value of your home is not a quick, simple or even very easy task. It takes time, patience, accuracy and you need to be ready to do lots of analyzing. One way that many homeowners dodge this task is to hire a professional Realtor to make the determination for them. The advantages of this are many. Not only is a Realtor familiar with market rates, prices and remodeling costs to value figures – but you can also sit back and rest assured that they will also assist you throughout the process of home valuation and selling your property too.
