Home appraisals, home inspections, home evaluations – these all sound like the same word, when in fact they are very different. Today’s focus will be: what is a home evaluation and how can it help you?
A home evaluation, also known as comparative market analysis (CMA for short) is a report prepared by your real estate agent which compares your property to other similar properties that have been listed for sale in your local housing market.
Getting a home evaluation takes all the guesswork out of how much your home is really worth. Instead of wondering if you are pricing your property too high or low, you can determine an asking price based on the activity of similar properties in your neighbourhood. It will cover things like listing prices for homes similar to yours, how long it was on the market, how many (if any) price decreases there were, and what the final selling price was compared to the original listing’s price.
When my clients ask, ”What is a home evaluation?” I find it best to explain what I do when conducting one so that they can see the full value of obtaining one. Here are some of the criteria I use to properly evaluate your home:
Active Listings: Active listing information can be very helpful if there is a home on the market that is in direct competition with the property you are about to put for sale, but I do remind my clients that people do not always heed the advice of an experienced realtor. Some will list their homes for whatever price they want, regardless of their home evaluation.
Sold Listings: This is one of the key tools I use when making a home evaluation as I can show my clients comparable sales to determine the market value of their home.
Price Changes: I use listings with price changes to show my clients the impact of pricing a property accurately. The most action on a listing occurs within the first 2 weeks of appearing on MLS, so listing at a higher price and thinking you can lower the price later may not work in your favour.
Cancelled and/or Expired Listings: I show this to my clients with a grain of salt. A property can be taken off the market for a variety of reasons, but a common one is that the sellers set their asking price too high and the listing had to be cancelled and re-listed. The thing to remember is that all of this information is available in the MLS history for the property.
The Toronto housing market is booming, especially if you are looking to buy or sell a condo. I want to make sure you do not overpay for a new property while still getting a fair price for the one you are selling. While this may be a tricky balance to obtain, I have 36 successful years of experience in the Toronto real estate market that speak louder than my words.
What is a home evaluation? A home evaluation is valuable information that you can receive to ensure your home is listed at the right price the first time.
Where Can I Get A Home Evaluation And How Much Do They Cost?
If you would like to see how much your home is worth, please feel free to reach out to me. I offer complimentary home evaluations to all my clients. I look forward to meeting with you and answering all your questions!
