House Appraisal
 

Looking to sell our home by owner. Would like to have the house appraised to get an asking price. Who have you used for this?
Thank you.

I would have a market analysis done by at least two experienced licensed real estate agents. It will be free and you are under no obligation to list your house with them.

Besides, the appraiser that you get is likely not going to give you the same numbers as the one your buyer’s get. What you pay this appraiser would be money wasted. Better to do like ‘retiredguy’ said.

Do a google search of homes sold within the last six months in your neighborhood. Compare the homes to yours, square feet, lot size, view, enhancements, etc. Find 3 that are very similar to your own.Your asking price should be in the range of those homes sold.
Don't forget there will be closing costs that will be deducted from your sales proceeds.

Asking realtors to evaluate your home is a great idea. They can also explain the pros and cons of selling the home on your own. There will be no cost for realtors to do this. If you agree to work with them, you will sign a contract and they will be paid a commission when your home is sold.

If you decide to sell on your own, use your three comparables to negotiate with the buyers. If a home similar to yours recently sold for $500,000, you can explain why you will not accept an offer of say $450,000. The price is too low for the existing market.

Just call 3 or 4 Brokers to give you a market analysis. Eventually you're going to be hiring a Broker anyways, might as well get acquainted now.

If you need a place to have a meeting for your club just go to a local restaurant and take up a few tables for a few hours. It doesn't matter that you have no intention of buying anything in the restaurant.

If you want to learn investing go to a financial planner, sit down with them, take a few hours to learn all your options. Then just leave, no need to sign on with them, you can invest yourself.

If you want to find the price of your home get 3 Realtors to come do a market analysis. It doesn't matter that they do this with the understanding that they are competing for your business. You can waste their time. They have nothing better to do than trying to make a living. They don't mind working for free, I'm sure.

(I hopefully assume I don't need the sarcasm emoji)

The Villages appraisal will be the only appraisal that will include recent sales by them, A MLS appraisal or independent appraiser only used MLS sales and they sell a fraction of preowned homes. Don't let anyone tell you different.

I totally disagree. Most real estate agents are happy to do a market analysis for free for the opportunity to introduce themselves, to educate themselves about the market, and to make a sales pitch for their services. Even if you don't sign a listing contract with them, you may refer the agent to a friend, or you may eventually decide to list your house after the FSBO effort fails. It happens all the time.

Recent Comps
 

I agree. Recent comparisons will go a long way. The Villages set up make this a breeze to do because of model names and specs! If you are lanai to lanai it should be fairly simple. Look at homes selling in your area, then charge about the same or a little less per square foot. There are some programs out there worth subscribing to but Zillow has most of what you need. There is a tab in their upper section for “sold”. Click on it and it gives you what each house sold for.

Good Luck:wave:

Hi Northerner,
Do you have the statistics that back up that claim? I've been looking at both sites for a while now & they seem to run pretty evenly. Meaning, if someone is looking to buy, they must use both or miss out on seeing roughly half of the houses for sale. I looked at both sites this morning & they both were offering several hundreds of used houses for sale.

How long have you been in the real estate business?

Or maybe you've bought and sold 3 or 4 homes in your lifetime?

The OP will be using a Broker soon enough. Selling a home without a Broker is a fool's errand under almost any circumstances and in a market that's over-saturated with inventory, it's nearly impossible.

Statistics bear out that conclusion, over and over and over again. Of course, this is TV and everyone is an expert.

It is insulting to request a market analysis and use information a realtor provides without hiring them. You can disagree. A realtor would do it and not burn any bridges but it is still insulting. Perhaps if the FSBO seller states up front and offers to pay for the realtor’s time it would be okay. The realtor would likely do it free anyhow but be forthcoming about your intentions.

Big Noses
 

Just look at realtors as those that have big noses. They start off by nosing into someone’s sale, then offer to sell all the while working in their 6% up cost for the sale. In the end, the up cost penalizes the seller and buyer because of the nosy realtor that was never needed. It wastes time and money. It takes a lot of work to sell a home for more than it is worth.

I agree. I am amazed at how many people think that, by selling their house themselves they will save a 6 percent real estate commission as if the commission is just another add-on fee. A 6 percent commission on a $400K sale is $24K. I'm cheap, so there is no way that I would agree to pay an extra $24K commission unless I thought the broker was worth that amount. But, for every house I have sold, except one, I have listed it with a broker. The one house that I didn't list had 5 offers within 20 minutes because the market was extremely hot.

I agree about being forthcoming. But, I don't agree about offering to pay for a market analysis. Most real estate agents are happy to do
the market analysis for free, even if they know that the homeowner intends to list it as a FSBO. It's all about exposure and marketing their business. A real estate agent who charges for a market analysis would not last long in a competitive business, where their income is from commissions.

When you are in sales you should recognize there is always competition. A person wanting to sell their home has SEVERAL OPTIONS. Meeting with one realtor and agreeing to whatever that person believes is a fool's errand. You should have 2 or 3 realtors come to your home to evaluate your property. Sometimes, one of the realtors has a buyer lined up for your type of home and it will sell in one or two days. Sometimes, a realtor over estimates his/her ability and the home sits on the market for months. Some have been working the area for many years. While others are newbies. etc.... IMO, it is always wise to speak to several realtors.

As I said, I wouldn’t expect them to take money. But I think it’s fair to offer compensation for their time. I suppose if the seller is up front then it doesn’t really matter.

FWIW I’m not in the business. I have a family member in the business. She works harder than anyone I’ve ever known. Seeing the frequent realtor bashing on this forum bothers me because those bashing realtors have no idea how demanding the job is. It is a 7 day/wk job with no downtime until the phone gets turned off at bed time if you’re lucky.

I didn't bash any real estate agents. But, the nature of the business is that agents work for commissions, not by the hour. No successful real estate agent would accept or propose an hourly payment for a market analysis.

Not you in particular, just in general. And again for the 3rd time, I wouldn’t expect an agent to take payment for a market analysis. I just said it would be reasonable to offer one if you want their services without hiring them.

I 100% agree. I never read a post in which someone was bashing realtors. Agents chose to work in a sales profession. They should understand THE BUYER and SELLER'S needs are more important than their own.

In real estate, a person can choose from several options: FSBO, the use of a buyers agent, or dealing direct with the listing agent. If an agent gets let out in the cold, it is not bashing. That is how sales works. You win some, you lose some!

When you buy a car do you deal with the first salesman you meet or do you continue to look at other options? It is the same with realtors. No need to work with the first one who knocks on your door.

Of course, I agree. Assuming the intent to hire one.

Regarding the bashing of realtors it was Normal post that bashed a bit in this thread. But I see it a lot in the forum. I didn’t mean to accuse you guys of it and I apologize for sounding that way.

I guess I should have stated in my first message that we have someone interested in purchasing our home. That is why we don't plan to use a realtor. But we would like an appraisal so we could ask a 'fair' price for our sake and the buyer's sake.

We do appreciate all of your comments!

Why don't you ask the prospective buyer to make a written offer? In my experience, verbal discussions rarely result in an actual sale.

Randall55 and Normal have great suggestions. It appears that many other responses have their own agenda. Zillow has listings that can help get you in the range of Listing Prices and some may be within blocks of your home. Good Luck!

Bashing
 

I certainly don’t mean to come off as bashing anyone. I rarely take things personally so I likely need to be more sensitive. I do apologize if any realtor took it that way, it just doesn’t make sense to me to have realtors. I should realize that we all aren’t cast from the same mold. More power to realtors, it just doesn’t seem logical to me to inflate prices to pay for a realtor therefore making it more difficult to accomplish the original intent of selling a home.

You can’t group all realtors the same I would measure; just like you can’t group all landlords together. Situations are different for all.

A fair price is what the market will bear. This is why it is important to look at similar homes that recently sold in/near your neighborhood. Use these recent sales to negotiate with your buyer so that BOTH of you feel it is a good deal. An appraiser or realtor will find comparables to determine the home's present value. Just as I have suggested. It is quite easy to do yourself.

If your buyer is getting a mortgage, the bank will determine the value. If this is the case, getting your own appraisal is a waste of money.

The buyer may want a home and termite inspection. If the buyer is paying cash, you will need the help of a title company or real estate attorney to do a title search, transfer of deed and recording. These are the professionals YOU MUST HIRE. If buyer is getting a mortgage, the bank will take care of all this. No cost to you. The buyer will be charged by the bank .

I disagree with broker’s market assessment from experience. Sold a house up in NH. Zillow had $350k. Broker had $175k. Appraisal had $150k. Appraisor uses the same process which a bank will underwrite the mortgage to the buyer. House sold for $149k after sitting with no offers for a month at $175k.

Brokers can inflate prices to get sellers to sign.

Get both is my answer but I am not a cheapeskate when it comes to large $ items where 1% difference can mean $5000 in time or money. Ie never be a motivated buyer, and never utter those words to a broker