what's my Home worth?

Are you considering selling your home in the Greenville area?  Before you put your home on the market, consult with Crabtree & Young.  There are typically two options to start with:

• CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) - FREE from Crabtree & Young
• Home Appraisal - typically costs a few hundred dollars from a licensed appraiser

What is a CMA?

A CMA, or Comparative Market Analysis, is one of the best methods available to estimate a home's current value in order to determine a potential sales price.

Anyone who has ever sold a car knows they have to first find out how much it is worth and what people are willing to pay for it. Selling a home is similar, but determining the sales price is not nearly as straightforward or easy. The value of a home is much more difficult to predict, and a lot of the information available to home sellers can be unreliable. Online home valuation sites are fun to play with, but they are based on past sales, typically in a radius around your home, and thus tend to overlook current market factors and neighborhood statistics. 

When should I ask for a CMA?
If you don't get a CMA before you list your home, you might end up listing it for the wrong price. Setting the price too low means you'll get less money for your home; setting it too high means it might not sell at all. We will complete a CMA on your home before helping you sell it, with different scenarios based on the current condition or potential condition of your home (if you plan to do some improvements).

How is a CMA prepared?
We typically like to walk through your home first. The home does not have to be in perfect condition. However, property condition does affect price, so if you plan to do work on the property, be sure to let us know. At this point, we will also recommend improvements to increase your home's value and/or marketability, including tips on staging and preparing the home for showings.

Next we will research information about comparable properties in the area, usually using data from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and tax records. This includes:

• Properties that have sold and closed within the last 12 months
• Active listings - properties currently for sale
• Pending sales - listings that have sold but not yet closed
• Expired listings - properties that did not sell during the listing period
• Location - location of recent sales of comparable homes in same or similar area

Finally, we will suggest a probable selling price. Many times we will suggest a range, or a few possible prices rather than a set price, particularly in markets were there are price differences due to property size, age, architectural style, or physical condition.

A CMA is NOT an appraisal.
A real estate appraisal is a comprehensive evaluation performed by a professionally licensed appraiser. With a CMA, a real estate agent's experience in the business and familiarity with the local area can affect the accuracy. Typically, a CMA prepared by an experienced real estate agent with a good knowledge of the local market will be right in line with your home's appraised value. A CMA can therefore be a very useful tool in a real estate transaction, without the expense of hiring an actual appraiser.

Let us provide a free CMA to ensure you get the most accurate value for your home!