How much should I sell your house for?
Finding your home actual worth can be the single most important factor when you're selling your house. You don't want to overprice the property because you'll lose the freshness of the home's appeal after the first two to three weeks of showings. Demand and interest wane after 20 days or so.
Of course, nothing stopping you from dropping your price later, but this can be a matter of too-little-too-late. To understand how much my house worth is, here are a few factors that play an important role.
Square Feet
Square feet is the most basic measurement to know how much is my house worth, followed closely by location and number of bedrooms. It’s one of the first things anyone will ask you about the property, and should always be at top of mind.
It’s also the first bit of information a real estate agent will need when performing a comparative market analysis, and knowing it will help you understand where your home fits in the current market.
A good bit of information to stash away is that appraisers typically won’t deviate more than 10-25% for net square footage when comparing “similar” homes. This means your 2,000 square foot home could easily be seen as comparable with those that are as low as 1,800 or as high as 2,200 square feet.
Location
It’s easy to understand how location impacts your property’s value—you’ll pay a premium for big perks like water views, access to shopping and dining, proximity to downtown, walkability, the list goes on.
To know how much my house worth is, you could even fetch more for your house because it’s located in a historical area with mature trees. And a few streets north or south might be more desirable than your spot just a few blocks away. It just all depends on what your particular location has to offer.
Condition
The condition of your home brings your value up or down significantly—but getting good marks in the “condition” category doesn’t mean you have to invest in expensive remodels or have every cosmetic detail decked out with the highest-end purchases.
You can get 3-5% more for your home with a thorough de-cluttering and cleaning, which will allow you to present your home to buyers in its absolute best shape.
Touching up peeling paint, pressure washing the driveway, and cleaning up the front step on the outside can also work wonders in commanding a higher price point.
Pricing
If you are pricing too high, then it can be a mistake. Don't worry about pricing your home too low. House priced with below market value will often receive multiple offers that will then drive the price up to the market. Pricing is all about supply and demand.
One of the main reasons that a home won’t sell once it hits the market isn’t necessarily because it’s priced incorrectly— it’s because nothing has been done to highlight the features that validate that price point. You must be able to capture the buyer’s attention in the first 3 to 5 seconds about the top features of the house.
If you’re selling in a buyer’s market, when fewer buyers are searching for homes than there are homes for sale, then you need to price your home right at or below the competition to attract interest.
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