Pricing Your Home Wisely

The decision to put your home on the market and sell it yourself can create a lot of hassles. You have to market your home, stage it for viewings, and negotiate with potential buyers. But the rewards are worth it: A nice financial windfall with no commission to pay to an agent, and an opportunity to move on to a new residence. Pricing your home wisely will ease the process and maximize your chances of selling sooner. There are two reports that can help guide your pricing.

A Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) is an informal report, compiled by a real estate agent, which provides an estimate of a home's market value, based on sales of comparable homes in the surrounding neighborhood. CMAs are the best way of determining the market value of your home. CMAs are usually offered for free from local realtors.

An appraisal is a home survey conducted by a licensed professional to determine the home's market value. The appraisal will include a sales comparison and a cost/replacement opinion of value, analyzing factors as the condition of the home, property values and market activity in the surrounding neighborhood, what similar homes (in terms of rooms, square footage, amenities, and size) are selling for, and how quickly those homes are selling. The appraisal is a definitive statement on the worth of your property, but unlike the CMA, it will cost you several hundred dollars to receive one.