Ready to retire and sell your home? Pricing it correctly is important to getting the most money from it, but determining the value can be a challenge. If you have lived in your home for a long time, kept it in good shape, and even upgraded it, you may not have a realistic view of its value.
Avoiding The Taj Mahal Syndrome
Many homeowners are afflicted with the Taj Mahal Syndrome, the misguided belief that their home is much better than similar homes. Often, they make this assessment based on factors that do not equate to increased value. For example, owners may look back over their years in the home and remember the years they raise their children there. They let emotional factors inflate the value to others, which leads to overpricing.
In preparing to sell their home, many people clean and paint it and undertake renovations to make the place more inviting to potential buyers. Sometimes what they spend money on repairs and maintenance items that they should have done periodically over the years. Repairing peeling paint and cracked bathroom tile and faucets are necessary to bring the house up to basic standards and local codes, but these things are not renovation costs that can be passed on to new buyers.
Improving a home with upgraded windows, remodeled kitchens, and new flooring does not usually result in a dollar for dollar increase equal to what you expend. While real estate shows on TV often show that putting money for renovations results in increased value, studies conducted on the resale value of improvements shows a varying rate of return that is always far less than 100%.
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Using Professional Home Valuation Tools
Real estate agents and appraisers traditionally use “comps,” comparable values of other homes in the neighborhood, to help determine the value and subsequent best price for your property. By going into information found on the local MLS, the professional can see how much other homes of similar size, condition, and location sold for.
The assumption is that the value of a home is what others are willing to pay for it. Comps do not take in mind any unique attributes that your house might offer. An extra bedroom, a larger footprint, a remodeled kitchen, a big garage, and other amenities impact might what buyers are willing to pay. In addition, a home located in a popular neighborhood with a great school system at a time when no other properties are available might bring in increased price.
Online Tools Lack A Realtor’s® Touch
With the rise of the Internet, individual sellers have access to many online tools just by plugging in information about their home. In addition, some real estate sites provide estimates of value, while offering information about other homes sold in the neighborhood.
While any of these tools can offer you a ballpark idea of your home’s value, you need the expertise of a professional to provide the insights – and the honesty – that will lead to the most accurate pricing. I am always happy to look at your home, evaluate its condition, and measure it to other homes for sale or that have recently sold in your neighborhood.
I will devise a proper pricing strategy and when necessary, encourage you to be realistic about the likely price your home will command. While it will be your decision as to how much to list it for, pricing your home too high may delay its sale. When you are selling so you can run to the next chapter of your life, I will help you price pricing it accurately in hopes you will yield a fast, fair sale.
If you are ready to sell your home for maximum value, the best place to start is by clicking here and scheduling an appointment.
Roy Thomas SRES® (Senior’s Real Estate Specialist) is a REALTOR® with Sutton Group Professional Realty. Since 1991, Roy specializes in helping retirees with their later in life real estate transactions. Call Roy at 902-497-3031 or contact Roy here
