Estimating Market Value - Need Help
Hello,
i am trying to estimate market value of a property that i think about buying. All comps i have are sligtly different and i am not sure how to make an adjustment for the following. Please let me know if you can recommend a resource where i could find the numbers for adjustment. Also let me know if i go into too many details and some of these i should just ignore.
1. extra bedroom
2. extra full bath
3. extra half bath
4. no basement vs.
not finished basement vs.
partially finished basement vs.
fully finished basement
5.for town house - central unit vs. end unit
6.age difference
7.exterior -
steel sliding vs. vinyl sliding vs. brick and sliding
8.hot water
electric vs. natural gas
9. central air vs. window units vs. no AC
10. HOA FEE (different amount)
11. garage vs. assigned parking spaces vs. street parking
12. different enclosed area
13. different property land area
thank you in advance,
Victoria
For about $275 you can get an appraisal done and take all of the guess work out of it. Most of these factors are taken into account when a professional appraiser reviews your property. If you decide to buy the property you will have to get an appraisal anyways (unless you are paying cash).
if you are looking for an appraisal get an appraiser. if you want a guesstimate, which is what an estimate is, find out what homes are selling for per sq. ft. in your area its $85 in my area which means a 2000 sq.ft. home on a lot will be valued at about $170 but there are many other factors to consider if you are unsure get an appraiser to do it........kenmax
TAMPAREI
thank you for reply. It wouldn't work for me paying a professional appraiser because my stratagy is to make many low offers and a very small percentage will get accepted. So it is not worth for me to $275 for each property i consider.
thanks
Victoria
Quote:
On 2004-08-03 13:49, TAMPAREI wrote:
For about $275 you can get an appraisal done and take all of the guess work out of it. Most of these factors are taken into account when a professional appraiser reviews your property. If you decide to buy the property you will have to get an appraisal anyways (unless you are paying cash).
sometimes free is not the least expensive way to do things.
There is not a magic number that you can use to determine what a property is worth when comparing non-basement houses to those with basements etc. Appraisers use comps. Like properties with like ammenities, like construction, similar size and close proximity to the one that they are appraising. If you are not willing to pay for a professional opinion, then I'd suggest investing in some appraisal courses, and learn how to do them yourself. If you are not willing to do either then you need to accept that you will be making some mistakes. Some of which will cost you deals, and others that will cost you money.
Good luck,
Jeff
Thank you for responses.
I do use MLS comps that i get from my real estate agent. This is why i have all these questions - in some cases there are no properties that are easy to compare.
Victoria[ Edited by tangovictoria on Date 08/03/2004 ]
Victoria,
Several of your numbered items are specific to a marketplace. For instance, in my area, not having a basement is a negative (I adjust by about $5-7K for this). However, in other areas, having a basement is perceived as a negative due to high water tables. In my area, a 5th BR warrants a slight upward adjustment (say $1.5-3K); big difference, however, between 3 BR & 4BR homes. For C/A, I use $10K adjustment, 2 car garage v. no garage $10K ($5K for each, so $5K for 1 car, $10K for 2, and after that, minimal adjustment).
My CMA's take the format of an Excel spreadsheet. I'm a RE broker, not an appraiser, but I use similar methodology in that I make upward and downward adjustments for age, condition, amenities, location, lot and house size and other factors.
Learning how to tweak the numbers took many years of experience and intensive knowledge of my marketplace. Pricing property (the correct way) is not easy.
Unfortunately, real estate is not like the car business where, apparently, people can go to a book and price a vehicle by age and features.
It may be helpful if you take one subdivision at a time and compare sales data of different houses in that subdivision. I think you will be able to see "patterns". Perhaps then you will able to extrapolate and apply some principles to other subdivisions as you gain experience gathering and evaluating comps.