The secrets to selling your house for more
Coming up with the accurate value of your home can be difficult. There are several factors to consider before arriving at a reasonable price.
Unfortunately, many of us don’t consider (all of) these factors when putting a price on our home. We just come up with a value based on our sentiment or intuition. This oversight usually leads to one of two problems: an overvalued property, which stays in the market for too long; or, an unvalued property that sells for less than its worth.
In contrast, home sellers who carry out effective home valuation sell their houses fast and for more. To avoid overvaluing or undervaluing your home, consider the following factors when pricing your home:
- Location & neighborhood
- Comparative market analysis
- Home age & condition
- Home upgrades
- Economy
- Home size
1. Location & neighborhood
Naturally, houses in big cities – e.g., New York City – tend to cost more than houses in other places. However, appraising a home goes beyond just looking at its location. Your property’s neighborhood plays a critical role in determining your property’s worth.
A lot of people want to live close to their workplace, school, and local amenities. The closer your home is to these places, the more offers you’ll attract. More offers then lead to a bidding war, which will ultimately drive up the value of your home.
On the other hand, if your neighborhood is far from these amenities or has several problems (e.g., high crime rate or insufficient amenities), buyers will likely avoid your home. As a result, you may receive very few offers for your home.
2. Comparative market analysis
Another factor to consider when calculating a home value is the comparative market analysis (CMA). Experienced real estate agents use CMAs to analyze the recent prices that neighborhood houses with similar features (like size, number of bathrooms, etc.) sold for. They then set the value of your home close to the CMA value.
However, coming up with a CMA can be difficult. For example, a recently sold home near you with similar features can be under a separate subdivision. This means the house may be under another school district from yours despite the proximity. As a result, homebuyers may value both houses differently.
In Utah, creating a CMA is extra difficult for individuals who are not real estate agents because Utah is a non-disclosure state, which means that websites like Zillow don’t have accurate pricing information that data isn’t automatically public.
These complexities are why carrying out a CMA is hard. But, you don’t have to do it yourself. You can put your effort into other things while Bost Redevelopment carries out the CMA for you.
3. Home age & condition
Location and comparable properties (called “comps”) are not the only factors that can affect the value of your home. Your home’s age and condition also determine how much buyers will be willing to pay for it.
As you may know, newer homes are usually sold at a higher value than old ones. Homebuyers believe buying such houses will save them the trouble of fixing faulty appliances or the roof any time soon.
Also, buyers will pay top-dollar for a home in good condition. They don’t want a home that will need many improvements immediately after they move in. This is why many homebuyers include an inspection contingency in their agreements.
However, note that because a home is old doesn’t necessarily mean it has less value. In some cases, an older house in excellent condition is more valuable than a new one.
4. Home upgrades
As an ardent reader of our articles, you may have noticed our emphasis on home upgrades’ importance. This is because upgrades can motivate homebuyers to pay more money for your property. When done right, it can drive the value of your home way up.
But how can you be sure you are making the right upgrades? By carrying out the CMA as mentioned above.
A CMA will let you know the upgrades that homebuyers in your areas want. It will also allow you to identify the home improvements that buyers are not interested in.
Let’s say houses in your neighborhood have granite countertops. Buyers will expect your home to have this feature too. If you don’t have it, they may be less motivated to offer you your asking price. After all, they may feel the need to install this feature themselves if they buy your house.
Also, many sellers think expensive upgrades equal more value. But the truth is some expensive upgrades reduce the value of your home or increase the value less than the amount you paid for the upgrades. Therefore, do not make improvements unless your buyers ask for them. You can contact us at Bost Redevelopment for expert advice before making any upgrade.
5. Economy
Buying a house is usually not most people’s priority in a bad economy. They are too worried about losing their jobs, salary cuts, or the rising cost of living to risk buying a home.
This low demand for houses, known as the buyer’s market, automatically leads to falling house prices. Needless to say, if you are selling during this period, you will mostly get low offers. The value of your home will be significantly affected.
In contrast, a strong economy translates to increasing home prices. This is because people are motivated to purchase houses due to job growth, low-interest rates, and other positive economic factors.
6. Home size
Another factor appraisers look at when valuing a house is its square feet. After calculating the price per square foot based on the other factors in this article, they will look at “the usable space.”
Your usable or livable space is the part of your home you live in. These parts include the living room, bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchen. Places like your attic and garage can not be called usable spaces. So, if you have a 1,000-square-foot home with a 100-square-foot garage, you have 900-square-feet of usable space.
Also, different parts of the house can be valued differently. Depending on the area and condition, basement square footage can be worth significantly less than square footage from other house floors.
These factors – square footage and usable space – are combined with the landscape quality and other parameters when determining your house’s price.
Let Bost Redevelopment help you sell your house for more!
Do you need help marketing your home and attracting the right buyers? We are here to help you!
At Bost Redevelopment, we are experts at handling every home selling problem you may be facing. We would use our marketing expertise to ensure you get the best buyer for your home at the maximum value possible. Want to talk more about your options? Please leave us a message below with your contact information.
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