If you’re getting ready to put your house on the market in South Carolina, you’ll want to make sure to price it right. What you personally believe your house is worth might be quite different than what it is actually worth, and this is otherwise known as its fair market value. It’s important to determine its current value so that you don’t list it for a price that is too high or too low. Real estate comps can provide information that helps you set a fair yet competitive list price.
The phrase ”real estate comps” refers to lists of information regarding recent home sales in your area. You can use this information to compare your home with the others in order to determine a fair market value for the house you are selling. It makes no sense to compare your home with a home in another region or one that is much smaller or larger than your house. Real estate comps means that you review homes that have comparable size, location and features as your own.
A real estate agent can execute a market analysis for real estate comps
One of the benefits of working with an experienced listing agent is that such agents have access to the Multiple Listing Services system, which is an online database containing all sorts of information regarding homes for sale in and around your community. Your listing agent can create what is called a ”market analysis,” which is basically a compilation of information gathered by reviewing real estate comps.
A buyer’s agent can also make use of comps
If you are the buyer, rather than seller, and you are working with a South Carolina buyer’s agent, he or she can also make use of real estate comps. Instead of using the information to help determine a fair list price for a home, as a seller’s agent would, a buyer’s agent can review comp sales before making recommendations for an amount you might want to offer on the home.
What features matter in a home regarding pricing?
Real estate comps enable agents to review all relevant information regarding home sales in your area. Features that most affect list prices include square footage and acreage, as well as whether there are highlighted features, such as an inground swimming pool. Your agent can also assess the exact sale prices of homes that are similar to yours that have gone to closing in the past six months.
Comps come into play with home appraisals
If you’re hoping to get loan approval for a mortgage, the home you are trying to buy will be appraised. A home appraiser uses real estate comps to determine the value of a home. If you are working with an agent who has presented you with a comparable market analysis, it provides leverage for you in the appraisal process, especially if you question the value an appraiser has listed in an appraisal.