If you are considering selling your home, you’re no doubt wondering, “How much is my home worth, and how does my listing agent figure out the asking price, anyway?”
I’ll start off by telling you that no two listing agents are the same, and there is no one-size-fits-all formula for determining how much your home is worth. But there are several factors that we can assess and questions we can ask to help us set a fair asking price that will get those offers from the right buyers.
No two listing agents are the same, and there is no one-size-fits-all formula for determining how much your home is worth.
If you are looking into selling your home and want a partner who knows the ins and outs of the real estate market, I am your gal! Here are the factors I take into consideration when working with you to list your home:
1: Market Conditions
There are many forces at work within the housing market at any given time that will impact the asking price of your home. Things like trending mortgage rates and lending conditions, the number of homes available in your market, broader economic conditions in the local area and nationally, and population growth or decline in your area all play a part in determining your best asking price.
The changeable, complicated nature of the housing market is just one reason why you need a knowledgeable, expert broker on your side to navigate through the process.
2: Comparable Properties
You may have noticed if you’ve ever bought or sold a home before that houses of similar lot size, square footage, age, bed and bath numbers, and neighborhood tend to fall within a similar price range. It makes sense, right?
Looking at comparable properties is one of the most obvious ways to get a good sense of how much your home might be worth, but there is still a lot of room for variation here. It’s also important to look at comparable properties to see how long they’ve been sitting on the market as well, as that can tell us if an asking price is too high.
3: Curb Appeal and Interior Quality
Curb appeal is a very visible factor in determining your asking price, as well as how much your home is worth. First impressions make a powerful impact, and buyers are often willing to pay a bit more for a house that makes them feel at home at first sight.
Your home interior is also a consideration. I’m not talking about the latest trendy decor features, but the construction and quality of things like cabinets, built-ins, crown molding, and floors. Painting a room is easy, but if you have bad construction, replacing or removing it is laborious and expensive, so that will lower the worth of your home.
4: Your (realistic) Goals
How I determine the asking price for my sellers depends mostly on what I know is going to be best for them. I take the time to get to know my homeowners, their needs, wants, goals, and their relationship with their home. While we all want to be able to set a high asking price, I am also honest with my sellers, and upfront about explaining the realistic goals we can set together to get the best possible offer for your home.
If you want to learn more about improvements you can make to raise your asking price, I may explore that further in a future post, so stay tuned!
If you’re ready to take that first step toward selling your home, give me a call or shoot me a text today!