Determining the Value of Your Bonita Springs Home
Most home owners list their home for sale to net the most possible money. Accurately finding the correct listing price without overpricing to scare away buyers or risk not appraising for the contract price is a challenge. You also don’t want to under price the property and leave money on the table.
There are a variety of methods that home sellers and listing agents should use or should not use. As a home seller you can ask any potential listing agent about any or all of these tools.
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The best method is using recent closed sale comparables. By recent, within three to six months of closed sale or sooner. If the real estate market doesn’t show many comparables you could possibly go back a little further. The properties must have sold or closed sale to be a comparable. The properties may be slightly different and the values of each of the comparables is adjusted to make it more “like” your home. For example, a pool value can be added or removed if there is a difference. An experienced listing agent can guide you through proper pricing.
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Pending sales may be mentioned but only as something to keep an eye on “as the next comparable” which could be happening in the next 30-60 days. Appraisers would it as the newer comparable if and when it closes sale.
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Do not count on the Lee County or Collier County Property Appraiser/Tax Collector’s websites to “appraise” a property. First, that site is not built to “appraise” properties for sale. That site combines a variety of methods which uses “like kind” and “arm’s length” transactions to estimate an assessed value to tax a parcel of real estate. Most importantly, the properties or real estate that the tax collector/property appraiser websites use closed sales for the prior year. For example, property taxes in southwest Florida are paid in arrears so the tax bill for 2016 is mailed in November 2016. The assessed values are based on property or real estate sales which occurred in the prior calendar year, which is 2015. Since we know that a professional property appraiser should use comparable properties which are generally three to six months old the property appraiser valuation model would be inaccurate to use for a truly accurate valuation. Now imagine if the real estate market was in a dramatic swing of values rising, you’d be leaving money on the table.
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Automated online valuation models. They often do not understand the intricacies of the local real estate market. There are hundreds of different scenarios where the valuation model doesn’t understand that the comparable properties did not have a golf membership included or it could have backed up to a major highway which effected the price.
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Absorption rate. The majority of real estate agents may not understand how to calculate an absorption rate but the experienced, professional real estate agents do. They don’t list or write a contract without knowing how much inventory is for sale. Wouldn’t you agree that it is important to know whether your home could take three months or three years to sell? That’s exactly what an absorption rate can tell you about your home before you list it for sale.
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If you are considering selling your home for sale by owner consider verifying the closed sale prices of homes in your neighborhood by checking the tax roll. Many times when I speak to potential home sellers about listing their homes for sale they let me know just how much a, b and c property sold for on their street or in their neighborhood and more often than not, they are wrong.
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Do not shop for and select a listing agent based on the list price they suggest, because they told you a number that you wanted to hear. Read also: Choosing a Listing Agent by List Price in Bonita Springs Florida
Last but not least, if a few weeks pass between the initial listing agent interview/pricing evaluation and the actual listing date of your property for sale, the local real estate market should be cross checked one more time for recent closings or new listings prior to activating the home for sale in the multiple listing service. In order to get the most possible money for your home you want to make sure you have all of the information, including a sale which could have closed the day before at a higher price.
For more information about listing your Bonita Springs home for sale call or text Chris Griffith at 239-273-7430. Chris is a local, experienced listing agent and a Certified Residential Specialist in Bonita Springs, Florida.