Posted on March 04, 2010 by Rogue Agent

Sometimes it seems like agents are basically licking their fingers to see which way the wind blows when it comes to housing valuations. All the real estate shows on cable t.v. bring in a broker who is a “real estate expert”. Really? One of my clients pointed out to me, that ” a house is worth what a person is willing to pay for it. Period.” He’s right. Real estate valuation is an opinion not a fact! How can you start to get an idea about the expected sale price of your home? You can do what your agent isn’t doing: His homework! The best way to figure this out is to look around your neighborhood and see what has sold.

One approach appraiser’s use for residential properties is the sales comparison approach. They look at homes within close proximity to each other and find comparable properties with similar features. If the subject house is a 3 bedroom 2 bath home, the appraiser will look for another 3 bedroom 2 bath home that has sold recently. In today’s market, a wise appraiser will keep the market window short when comparing properties. Some Realtor associations provide sold data on their associations web sites as a service this one in Charlotte. The best place to get accurate data for your analysis are the tax records. Check out this one in DC.