- SellForSure University Home Page
- Module 1: Introduction
- Module 2: Sell By Owner, or With Agent?
- Module 3: Working with an Agent
- Why You Should Use a Real Estate Agent to Sell Your House
- Drawbacks to Using an Agent
- Real Estate Agent Designations
- How to Choose a Real Estate Agent
- How NOT to Choose a Real Estate Agent
- How to Interview a Real Estate Agent
- Questions to Ask your Real Estate Agent
- Dual Agency
- Check an Agent's Work
- Communicating with your Real Estate Agent
- How a Real Estate Agent gets Paid
- Discount and Flat Fee Brokers
- Real Estate Listing Agreements
- Your Real Estate Agent's Job in a Nutshell
- Today's Real Estate Buyers are Savvy and Empowered
- Real Estate Values and Pricing
- What Matters and What Doesn't in Pricing your Home
- Every Home is Unique
- Three Major Factors affecting Real Estate Values
- Online Real Estate Price Evaluations
- Real Estate CMA or Comparative Market Analysis
- Realtor Property Report (RPR)
- Which Real Estate Valuation should I Trust
- The Real Estate Auction Sales Model
- Overpricing Your Home for Sale
- How to Maximize your Home Sale Price
- The Virtue of Underpricing your Home
- Selling your home with little or no equity
- Module 5: Preparing Your Home for Sale
- Inspecting your Home Prior to Selling It
- Preparing a Full Disclosure Package for Home Buyers
- Contents of a Real Estate Disclosure Package
- Making Repairs to your Home prior to Selling It
- Required Retrofits of your Home
- As-Is Real Estate Sales
- Selling as a Certified Pre-Owned Home
- Preparing your Home for Sale
- Enhance your Home's Curb Appeal
- Home Staging
- The Cost of Preparing your Home for Sale
- Module 6: On the Market
- When to List your Home for Sale
- Living in a Home vs. Selling One
- Getting the Word out about your Home
- Showings and Open Houses
- When Buyers are In the House
- Make your home Available, but make Yourself Scarce for Showings
- Offers and Negotiations
- Selling a Home that is Tenant Occupied
- Selling your Home in a Tough Market
- Recognizing the Wrong Price for your Home
- Real Estate Price Adjustment Strategy
- How to Sell a Home and then Buy Another
- Moving after Selling your Home
- Module 7: Negotiating and Closing the Sale
- The Residential Purchase Agreement
- What Happens when you get an Offer on your Home
- Negotiating the Sale of your Home
- Top Negotiation Tactics to use when Selling your Home
- The Buyer's Due Diligence
- The Real Estate Closing Timeline
- Delays in the Home Sale Process
- The Buyer's Appraisal in the Purchase Process
- Real Estate Tax Information for Home Sellers
- 1031 Tax-Deferred Exchange
- How much it Costs to Sell a Home
- Module 8: SellForSure System Walkthrough
- Goals of the SellForSure System
- The SellForSure Home Sale System Guarantees
- Traditional Real Estate Marketing Methods
- Active Real Estate Marketing
- Free Home Inspection and Termite Inspection
- SellForSure Pre-Sale Services
- The SellForSure Web Portal Status System
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 1
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 2
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 3
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 4
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 5
- Launching your Home on the Market
- SellForSure System Listing Syndication
- How to Manage Showings on your Home
- Real Estate Open House Events
- The Perfect Home Sale Schedule
- While your Home is on the Market
- The Two Week Review Cycle
- What to Expect Once your Home is Under Contract
- Closing the Sale of your Home
- Module 9: The Realty World Advantage
Another option for valuing your property is to hire a professional appraiser to do a formal real estate appraisal. A professional appraiser will typically charge between $400 and $600 for this service.
There are all kinds of appraisals, and they are ordered for a variety of different purposes. But when it comes to selling residential properties, an appraisal is typically done with the purpose of determining a property’s fair market resale value.
An appraisal is much more detailed than a typical CMA. It will include a detailed description of the property, with notes about the size, condition, amenities and upgrades of the property, and will usually include maps, photographs, and sketches of the home. In addition, an appraisal report will describe the overall market conditions in the area, including comments about the strength and trajectory of the local economy and employment.
An appraisal report will usually include three values:
- Cost value
- Income value
- Sales comparison value
The cost approach is what the appraiser figures it would cost to rebuild the same property, given the land value, material and labor cost, and depreciation of the improvements. The income approach is typically used for multi-family properties, but arrives at a value for the property considering how much income it would generate as a rental property, compared to other similar rental properties in the area. In the end though, most residential appraisals rely on the sales comparison approach – that is, they compare the home to several other recent “comparable” sales, make some value adjustments based on square footage, lot size, age, condition, and the like, and arrive at a value that way.
Fundamentally then, most appraisals are little different from a CMA, as the valuation approach which is most heavily weighted is the sales comparison method. Although an appraisal is more detailed, in the end, it comes down to the appraiser’s opinion of how much more the market values a two car garage versus a one car garage, a corner lot versus a lot in the middle of the street, and hardwood floors versus laminate.
Indeed, the Uniform Appraisal Report uses for a buyer’s loan will state:
The purpose of this summary appraisal report is to provide the lender/client with an accurate, and adequately supported, opinion of the market value of the subject property.
As you know opinions can vary, even among professionals with a lot of experience. No two appraisal reports will be exactly the same, and the values can vary significantly. An appraisal is a useful tool for figuring out how much your home is likely to sell for, but it’s important to understand that the actual sales price of your home can be much more, or much less, than an appraised value.