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Expert Contributor: What\u2019s Your Home Worth? Appraised Value vs. Market Value
How to get an accurate assessment of your property's value
By Sarah Forti, Realtor® with Forti Homes at Keller Williams Realty and Newtown Square Friends & Neighbor's Resident Real Estate Expert
If you have considered selling or refinancing your home, you have likely wondered what resource would help you determine the “value” of your home. Perhaps you had an appraisal done a few years ago which resulted in one value, then you went online and found a whole range of different values. And yet your neighbor just sold for twice as much as you paid for your property. Where to start?
The appraisal value is determined by a licensed appraiser using a detailed report. It is fact-based without taking into consideration as many outside variables as the market value.
The appraiser uses formulas to compare square footage, acreage, and the number of bedrooms and baths, and almost always stays within a six-month timeframe when searching comparable sales. Because history has shown market conditions can change in just 3 months, a comparable sale that happened 7 months ago is now out of date. When a buyer purchases a home using a mortgage, the lender will almost always require that the property appraises for the full sale price. This is important to consider when pricing your home.
Market value is the value that your home would garner in today’s real estate market. A Realtor® can help you determine this number by studying the features and benefits of your home and comparing it to recent active, pending, and settled properties in the same area.
5 factors that most heavily influence the market value of your home
1. Price 2. Condition 3. Location 4. Inventory (supply of homes in the area) 5. State of the Economy (a healthy economy offers lower interest rates)
Consulting two or three licensed Realtors is the best way to determine the market value of your home.
One last thing to mention is online property estimates. These are as “estimated” as you can get. They are based on algorithms which only use online data. The algorithm does not know if your property backs up to a busy road, if it has a state-of-theart HVAC system, or that the house across the street that sold for $100K less than the most recent sale was a foreclosure.
For the most accurate assessment of your property value, contact a Realtor who is experienced and knowledgeable about your local real estate market.
Sarah Forti heads the Forti Homes team of Keller Williams Realty and serves as Newtown Square’s Resident Real Estate Expert. For feature article suggestions contact Sarah@FortiHomes.com.
Forti Homes at Keller Williams Realty
744 W. Lancaster Ave, Suite 125, Wayne
Serving Newtown Square, the Main Line and Philadelphia
Office: 610-647-8300
Sarah Forti Direct: 610-986-7170
www.FortiHomes.com
