If your home will soon be among Excelsior homes for sale, you're probably starting to wonder just what your home is worth, and how your REALTOR® will determine it. Home valuation relies heavily on the "market" it's in, hence the "housing market" terminology many real estate agents frequently use.

What exactly does a real estate agent use to determine your home's value, though?  That's what we're looking into today to help you figure out how you and your REALTOR® can determine your home's value.

Online Valuation

National online databases such as Zillow and Redfin estimate your home's value by using real estate sales and other market factors in your immediate area.  

These tools are handy, but they fall short of taking in every factor of a home's value including remodeling, proximity to certain amenities, and other intrinsic aspects of your home's worth. Online resources give a big-picture overview, but your REALTOR® can get a much more detailed idea of what your home is worth.

Comparative Market Analysis

When you're ready to put your home up for sale, your REALTOR® will perform a comparative market analysis, which is really just a fancy way of saying, "what similar homes sell for."

The things that will most influence your home's valuation based on a CMA include taking into account homes of similar square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, year of construction, and property size. All of these things can give your REALTOR® a very focused idea of what your home may sell for and what price to list your home for in your local market.

Buyer Value

Like most things, the value of your home comes down to what the value is to the buyer, which can get a little tricky without an experienced REALTOR® to navigate you through the process.

Buyers, much like sellers, have almost all of the same tools at their disposal and will certainly use them to their advantage when shopping for and negotiating the price of a home. In the end, this is where the experience of your REALTOR® comes into play. Using the methods above, as well as having knowledge of the local area, your agent can help you be objective, realistic, and honest with the pricing of your home.

All of that to say, your REALTOR® will help price the home in a way that will appeal to a buyer without compromising the value of the home for you.  

Be Confident of Your Home's Value

Knowing your home's value is something that will be very useful over time. Perhaps you're looking to upgrade your housing situation or maybe you're looking to sell your home when its value is at its highest.  Whatever your goals for your home, it's important to keep a pulse on its value over time and be confident of that value when it's time to list it on the market.

Being confident in your home's value means being confident in your REALTOR®. Contact Homes by Joel if you're interested in or just want to speak to a REALTOR® about valuing your home.