You can pay a licensed residential appraiser several hundred dollars to come up with a price to sell your Philadelphia home; however that doesn’t paint the entire picture by itself. They’re a useful benchmark, but what’s needed is insight into present and future market conditions combined with your unique reason for selling, not just the past history.
The first consideration is your reason for selling. Is it a short sale, or a traditional one? Do you need to leave in a hurry—say, for a new job—or do have the luxury of extra time? Often, sellers of one home have an offer on a new one and may need to close the old one quickly. Your motivation determines the strategy.
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First, gather the comps and make sure they’re really comparable in location, style, age, and condition. Realtors can help with this task, since they have access to the local multiple listing service in your area. They may also have shown the particular homes in your neighborhood and be familiar with them.
Just as important is assessing active listings near your home, using the same criteria for comparability as with comparable sales. Once you have truly comparable listings, you can actually place your home on a graph and appreciate who’s competing with you.
Outstanding indicators of where the market is at a given point in time are pending sales. It’s true that the contracted price isn’t public knowledge. But the home was priced in such a way that a buyer made an offer and the seller accepted it. Once again, comparability with yours requires careful assessment.
A home in tip-top condition will bring more offers at higher prices than those less well-cared for. Condition is an important factor for sellers, because it’s the only element an owner has complete control over. A few homes need staging, but most merely need an experienced eye to offer up suggestions on improving the condition. Not every Philadelphia real estate agent is good at it, and some are better than others.
Putting a price on a home is easy. Determining the best one is hard. Who knows how to do it?
AGENT LADY does, and can show you how to price yours. Contact AGENT LADY to schedule an appointment if you want to list your Philadelphia home for sale.
About Agent Lady: Cherise Wynne is a leading real estate agent in Philadelphia, helping home buyers and sellers navigate the City of Brotherly Love, with a special focus on first time home buyers and sellers.