Do You Have a Biased Opinion of Your Home Value?
Many sellers base their evaluation of their home’s value on how they feel about their homes and their neighborhood. But wishing does not make it so. Some check online evaluation services but this is very misleading.
The truth is the value is determined by what a buyer is willing to pay for a home at any particular time and the seller is willing to accept. The market sets the value – not the seller, the buyer alone, or the Realtors. If the buyer is using a mortgage then the value also may be determined by an appraiser working for the lender. Appraisers use data based on past sales. They do not use emotions and use an arms length evaluation to arrive at the value.
These items do not determine a home’s value.
- What you paid for the home.
- How much you have invested into the home.
- How much you owe on the home.
- What the tax assessor says.
- What Zillow says.
- How many bills you want to pay off with the proceeds.
- How much you will have to pay to buy a new home.
- How much you value it and love the home.
- What a great floor plan you think you have.
- How much better than you think your home is than others in the neighborhood.
- Improvements you made that overbuilt your neighborhood.
- How much you have loved living there.
- How many compliments you have received from friends and family.
- How pretty or expensive your furnishings are.
- The good times and memories you have made while living in the home.
- How happy your children were growing up in the home.
A good local real estate agent can give you an evaluation of the real value of your home. Agents use the same basic steps of comparing homes to closed homes that appraisers do. Local agents know trends and what is happening in the neighborhoods. Local agents have local experience. Listen to the recommendation of your local agent. If you are in the DC metro area, please give the Lise Howe Group a call at 240-401-5577 or email us at lise@lisehowe.com.
