How to Determine Home Values

Ready to sell? Now the tough part, understanding how to determine home values in Raytown.  Sellers often get caught up in memories that were created and attach an emotional value to the home. It can make the determination of the value an extremely difficult process and also result in the home being priced far out of range, as compared to other properties on the market. With an understanding of how professionals value property, you can save yourself from falling into this trap. While it may be difficult because you love your home, real estate is a business and it all comes down to the numbers and home values in Raytown are always changing. 

Comparative Market Analysis

A comparative market analysis commonly known as a CMA helps real estate professionals to determine home values in Raytown. This process is completed by comparing homes in the area that have been sold, are pending a sale, and that are currently on the market. It looks at the most similar properties located nearest to the subject property. And then adjust values based on additional features, such as a 2-car garage compared to a one-car garage. Additionally, if the other comparables surrounding the home have features that the property is lacking, these predetermined values would be deducted from the average selling price of the most likely properties.  It would be wise no matter which option for selling your home you select to sell your home to have your own CMA performed. You’ll be aware of the value of your home, based on the current actual market value. By doing so, you can avoid being shocked or insulted at what you may feel is an insultingly low offer from a buyer.

Zillow’s Zestimate

Zillow has been around for years and many have looked to its Zestimate of value to value their homes. In most cases this is not very accurate and should not be used, although its accuracy has improved over the years. But you can use Zillow to see actually sold values of nearby homes, look at the photos and perform your own comparative market analysis of sorts. But we would still recommend obtaining a CMA to have a more accurate value.

Appraisals

These are basically the same thing as comparative market analysis, except this valuation is performed by a person who has specialized training in looking at homes, comparing them to others to come up with values, and adjusting up or down based on features. They come at a cost and can be very accurate if the appraiser knows the area or they could be very inaccurate if they don’t. We would not advise a seller to get an appraisal based on the costs when an experienced Realtor that knows the area could provide them with a good quality CMA for free.

Items that Might Affect Your Price

When it comes time to sell a house there is a bit more than just what your neighbor’s home sold for that will affect the pricing of your home. There are a lot of tangible things like repairs and location that will affect your price. But then there are other factors that might influence you to adjust your price up or down based on your time frame to sell, things like holding costs, fear of vandalism, and outside financial issues. So let’s take a look at these items.

Repair Costs

Being forewarned is being forearmed and never is this more true than when you’re selling your home.  It would be wise to order an inspection of the property to determine repair costs. If something is seriously wrong with the property structure, they may require you to fix it, or make other smaller repairs out of pocket before closing. It’s wise to contact professionals for at least two estimates of repairs, if you’re planning to do them yourself, create a realistic budget. With reliable data in your hands regarding the project timeline and expenditures, you can make an informed decision. You’ll have to determine if you want to go ahead and invest more in the home and make the repairs in order to reap a larger profit or sell the property “as-is,” deducting this expense from the asking price will give you a realistic current market value. You’ll be able to determine if an offer is fair for your home compared to other home values in Raytown, no matter which listing style you select, in addition to your marketing costs, should you select to work with an agent there will also be commissions. The commission is based on a percentage of the sale price. As there are two sides in a real estate transaction, the typical commission is near 3% per side, so a home selling for $400,000, would deduct $24,000 from your profits alone, along with the traditional seller’s closing fees. It’s also possible that the closing agent and the real estate agent’s office could charge transaction fees. 

Keep in mind that real estate commissions are always negotiable. Working with a Realtor that knows what they are doing can be worth the 5 to 8% that they might charge. If you sell for sale by owner, quite often if an agent brings a buyer they are going to ask you to pay them 2 to 3%.

Need a little help?

We buy and sell houses every day. We spend a ton of time estimating values on every house we look at and over the years we have gotten very good at it. If you are thinking about selling, we would love the opportunity to discuss your situation and all your factors in selling. We can then share with you what we would pay for it right now, today as it sits. We can also share what we could list and sell it for in a few months. And we can also share with you a few things you might do, for very little or low cost to get a bit more in price.

Why not let us assist you in determining the value with no obligation? At kcmoHomeBuyer our professional buyers can walk you through each step of the process, we’re pros at determining home values in Raytown. We can help you decide if selling to someone like is the best choice for your property. kcmoHomeBuyer typically closes in 10 days to 2 weeks. We can also give you a few listing options if that would better fit your needs.

There are a lot of situations to think about when you’re ready to sell your house. Please send us a message or fill out the form to discuss selling your house in Raytown, Missouri.

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You can trust our firm offer will not change before closing, and you won’t be hit by any of those surprise fees. We’ll be there to walk you through each step of the sale.
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Crystal from Olathe

EASY, CONVENIENT AND QUICK

This family team are great people to deal with, very friendly and helpful.  They made selling my house easy, convenient and quick and gave me the highest bid for my property.  I highly recommend them!

Kim Tucker

Kim Tucker along with her husband Don and son Scott make up the core kcmoHomeBuyer Team that has been buying homes across the Kansas City Metro since 2000!