Every day, we receive over a dozen requests for a free house value report for homes across Dallas Fort Worth (strangely enough, a large percentage are for house values in Frisco and Keller Texas… does that mean something? huh). The vast majority of the house value requests are for home owners thinking about selling their home. They want to see what their Dallas Home would potentially sell for compared to what they own it for. Did you know that this is only one of many examples of how a free house value report or comparative market analysis (aka CMA) can be used?
Here Are 5 Ways To Use a Dallas House Value Report aka CMA
Selling Your Dallas Home- The first and most obvious way to use the free comparative market analysis that you receive from Texas Home Central is to compare your home against other homes that have sold in your neighborhood. I wont go into too much detail here since this one is pretty obvious. What I would like to add here is that an “automated CMA” is not enough to give you a clear picture of what your home will sell for. Sometimes you will get a false sense of value and be too high or too low by thousands of dollars. Price too high and people will not bother looking at your home, too low and people will think something is wrong with your home and try to negotiate you even lower or again, not even visit. It’s imperative that a professional that knows the real estate market take the time to do a deeper analysis, comparing more that just bedrooms, bathrooms and square footage. A good agent will also compare lot size and location, upgrades, home features as well as what other homes have that your home may not have.- Buying a Dallas Home- Yes, that’s what I said! Before you put an offer on that dream home, demand that your real estate agent do a CMA on it to make sure it is not price above the market or other homes in that neighborhood that have sold before. It’s amazing to me that most Realtors do NOT do this. How would you feel if you paid thousands more for a home than any other home in the neighborhood that compared to your new home? You’d be upside down immediately and it would take years to catch up on that lost equity. Make sure you ask your agent for a CMA before making the offer on your new Dallas Home!
- Fighting Your Taxes- I do get these request occasionally but I’m surprised I don’t see it more often. I have to admit, most Realtors HATE getting these requests. I’m sure you can understand why as it takes them a long time to put together a quality house value report but I don’t see it that way. My team is happy to help you fight your taxes so don’t hesitate to contact us… hopefully you will remember how hard we worked for you and contact us when it’s time to sell your home too! There are a few counties that knowingly inflate the real estate taxes and will quickly lower the appraisal value if challenged. Very few people challenge them and they make a lot of money this way. Collin County is NOT one of these counties, they actually do a pretty good job and they usually stand by their appraisal values.
- Home Improvement Projects- Before you convert the attic space into a work out room or convert your formal living room into an office, use a free CMA to get a firm number on the “price per square foot” for your home. If you are converting attic space, this will add square feet to your home making it worth more but make sure the project doesn’t cost more per square foot than the value it adds. If you are converting a half bath to a full bath, find out what value that adds to your home and time to keep within that range for your budget. This is smart money at work. Your home is an investment so why spend it all on upgrades that will not bring you a return for your money?
- Building a Pool- A free house value… if prepared right will give you an idea of what added value a pool will bring your home in your neighborhood. If a pool in your neighborhood adds $25K to the selling price then you will know where to keep your pool priced. At the same time, keep in mind that a pool will depreciate by 50% almost immediately… meaning if you spend $40K for a new pool, it will only raise your home value by $20K. It’s different for each neighborhood but this is a pretty good rule of thumb.
I hope this information helps you get the most return for your home investment. If you have any other creative ideas of how to utilize a CMA, please share it will me! Take advantage of your free house value from TexasHomeCentral.com today!
Tags: CMA, Comparative Market Analysis, Home Value, House Value
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 11:42 am and is filed under Home Buyer, Home Seller, Housing Market, Money Matters, Real Estate, Taxes, Tips for Buyers, Tips for Sellers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.