Recent Homes Sold – The Hunt For Your Asking Price

So it is time to move on and relocate. Maybe you need to move into a larger home. Or perhaps you are downsizing. Either way finding how much your home is worth requires careful analysis of the sorrounding market and the most current conditions.

Following are some tips to find the correct asking price of your home.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the most reliable information you can use is the MLS. There are some websites with good information such as zillow, trulia, etc., but for the most part are unreliable. However, a second source of good information to find good comps comes from title companies. They will be able to generate a report on recent home sales. You don’t get as detailed information but you do get enough to make a decision.

If you really don ‘t want to deal with a real estate agent at this time (them pushy salespeople them)… you can guesstimate a good asking price of your home if you follow these steps…

First, you must know exactly which homes sold that are the most similar to your home including the upgrades, condition of the home at point of sale, as well as financing and reason for selling. This is the hardest part of setting the asking price. It’s comparing your home against others.

If other homes were not as nice as yours, you must take that into consideration. If they were nicer, you must also take that into consideration (yes, even if it hurts to know you couldn’t keep up with the Jones’s). Then comes the question of comparing your home against foreclosures.

This is were you think like a buyer. If you are in a neighborhood with 10 homes for sale and one is a foreclosure selling cheap. Well the buyer on that may have just gotten lucky and everyone else must pay regular price. If on the other hand there are 6 foreclosure homes selling cheap then the buyer has options and you must come down in price to compete. There is no exact science. It’s just a judgement call.

Once you have all this information you can separate homes that don’t compare as well and the homes that do compare to yours based on condition, updgrades, etc. You find the price per square foot each home sold for and you average it out. This is your starting point to decide where to price your home for sale.

Warning: As a home seller you’ll be tempted to price your home towards the upper range. This is the biggest mistake you can make. If you want to sell your home fast and for top dollar this will kill 90% of your chances. Instead price the home at its market value (which may be the upper range of the market… just make sure it is) or slightly below. If you combine this with a killer marketing strategy that creates demand for your home, then you’ll be able to drive up the price of your home and get the price you want and need while selling your home in record time.

Tags: recent homes sold, recent homes sold by zip code, recent homes sold in my area, recent homes sold in my neighborhood, sale price of homes sold