Today, I’ll explain all the different ways to assess your home’s value.

If you’re curious about how to determine your home’s value, today I’ll share four ways to calculate it:

1. Look at the tax assessed value.  You can find the tax assessed value of your home by checking your tax statement or going to your county’s website and looking at the value posted for your property address. The limitations of this method are that the tax assessed value is done once a year, and the tax assessor probably isn’t aware of the unique features that will drive up the value of your home.

2. Use online valuation tools. There are many online valuation tools available now. They use an algorithm that pulls property data from your area to give you an idea of what your home might be worth. This method is limited because your home has unique features that increase your property’s value, features that aren’t accounted for by the algorithms. If the homes in your neighborhood are all pretty similar, and you haven’t done any updates, these online tools can be fairly accurate. However, they can sometimes be off the mark. 

“With a CMA, I’ll come to your home, look at all its unique features, and assess how those may (or may not) appeal to today’s buyers.”

3. Get an appraisal. An appraisal is a very detailed report done by an appraiser who comes to your home and looks at comparable sales. This method takes into account the different features of your home, such as square footage and the number of bedrooms, and compares those to recent sales. The limitations of an appraisal are that the appraiser doesn’t necessarily look at your home through the eyes of a buyer in today’s market. It will give you a good idea of what your home is worth, but it won’t necessarily tell you what price you could get for it if you put it on the market.

4. Get a real estate professional to give you a value. I love to do comparative market analyses for my clients. That’s where I’ll come to your home, look at its unique features, and assess how those may (or may not) appeal to today’s buyers—the kinds of things that aren’t accounted for in online valuation tools and are often not factored in by appraisers.

If you’d like me to do a market analysis on your home, or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me via phone or email. I’d be happy to take a look at your home, give you ideas for what you can do to drive up the value, and ultimately get the highest price buyers are willing to pay in today’s market. I hope to hear from you soon!