One of the first things that a potential home seller wants to know is "What is my home worth right now?" There are basically two ways for you to know for sure ... the first is to pay for an appraisal. The second is to contact a qualified Realtor, like me. I can perform what is known as a Competative Market Analaysis (CMA) for your property. This will tell you the price range within which your home should sell if we were to market it for sale, based on the sales of comparative (similar) homes in your neighborhood. ONLY
A REALTOR CAN PERFORM A CMA AND GIVE YOU The CMA is NOT a "feel good" tool that you should use as a way of boosting your assets on paper. When I perform a CMA for you, the goal is to determine what your home is worth on the open market for sale ... and at a price that will accomplish that sale. There are some web sites that claim to be able to perform this service for you. They will ask you to plug in some basic information and then, using some unknown formula, will tell you what your house is worth. Don't believe them! Under the Code of Ethics for the Maryland Real Estate Commission, the only way to properly conduct a CMA is for a Realtor to review the comparable properties AND do an extensive review of your specific property. You can read about my CMA methodology below. If you decide to ultimately sell your property, I am not permitted to tell you what asking price to choose. That is YOUR decision. The best that I (or any Realtor) can do is provide you with this information so that you can make the right decision for your individual situation. The bottom line, though, is that home that are priced too high simply don't sell (people don't even come to look at them!).
There is no cost or obligation for this service. Obviously, though, I hope that you will contact me at some point in the future if you decide to sell your home. Even if you don't, though, I'll give you the numbers. Any CMA that you receive from a Realtor licensed in Maryland should contain the following disclosure: THIS
ANALYSIS IS NOT AN APPRAISAL. IT IS INTENDED
A property CMA can be used for many purposes: Obviously, the primary reason you would want one is so that you can decide on the asking price for your property if you decide to sell it. Another reason for determining the value of a property is for a property settlement agreement in the case of a divorce. I've experienced this one first-hand and have done several CMA's for others in the same situation. A third reason for wanting to have an idea of what your property is worth is for the purpose of considering a refinance or a home equity line of credit. In most cases, the lender will want to perform an appraisal to determine the exact value so that they can make the loan, but a CMA can help you make your plans.
There are really no established rules for performing a Competitive Market Analysis of real property. The guidelines that I have outlined below can be applied to homes, as well as land, although evaluating the potential sale price for a parcel of land becomes more complicated and can be influenced by many factors that don't apply to the sale of a home. Generally, the information that Realtors use to assist prospective sellers in determining the fair market value for their property is obtained through analyzing the available public record information and the recent sale data contained in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). We would then make adjustments for differences in property types. The best indication of the accuracy of a CMA is the past performance of each particular agent. As you can see from the properties that I have listed for sale, I have a very good track record in marketing properties for sale. I have established a procedure for performing CMAs that has been very successful. It is based on the following:
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