The comparable houses (comps) in your area can have a significant impact on your home’s value. Whenever someone sells a home in your area, the listing agent pulls a list of comps and puts them into a document known as a CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) for the seller. A CMA is a list of homes sold in the area over the past 3-6 months. It is used to figure out the current value of your home based on comparable homes. A home may be considered similar based on size, number of beds and baths, quality, location, condition, etc.
When home prices are on the rise or investors renovate other homes in your area, increasing that home’s value, your home’s value will likely rise as a result. However, if the market is in decline, sellers do short sells, or banks start foreclosing in your area, it can have a negative impact on your home’s value.
If you’re interested in finding out how the comps in your area are impacting your home’s value, we can help! Not all the houses in your area are the same and it takes a trained real estate agent to find properties that are a reliable representation of homes like yours. Once we’ve done that, we can create a CMA showing you how much your home could be worth. You may be surprised at how much homes like yours are selling for!
This article is part of our Real Estate Info series.