As long as you’re in some kind of neighborhood or area with similar homes that have sold in the last 90-180 days, then the comps your agent showed you should be sufficient. About the only time I recommend an appraisal prior to market is if comps are hard to come by or you’re trying to sell a unique property or one where you have over-improved it compared to your neighbors.

Skip all the bullshit and put it up for auction

True story. Just bought a house and the appraisal was all based on comparable property in the same area with the price negotiated for repairs.

This

just check zillow.com

what you think its worth doesnt matter. what the sellers appraiser thinks its worth will determine how much money a buyer can borrow

I'm not sure how much you're borrowing even matters.We put $144k down on a $223k house and it still had to appraise out at the selling price. Makes no damn sense to me.

This is EVERYONE'S goal.

If you already have a house you've contracted for and are going to be paying a 2nd mortgage, don't jerk around and pay months of extra payments.

Price it at market - a few thousand under to get action and possible bidding on it.

Those comparison homes always drive me nuts. There are no homes in my area that compare to ours. Our comparisons always end up being homes that are smaller than ours due to a lack of 5 bedroom homes in the area. It's bullshit.

Oh and they almost always compare it with homes that don't have finished basements.

The kitchen is modernized although that was done 10 years ago. Still, it looks better than the only comp she provided that looks very similar to mine. The bathroom (minus the tub/shower) was redone last year. The front porch used to be a concrete top, limestone porch that was starting to crumble and so we replaced it with a nice wooden porch/deck a year ago. At the same time, the sidewalk leading up to it was replaced.
Also regarding garages and the comp I mentioned, mine is twice the size of that one. We have two backyard patios to enjoy. I think those are good selling points but I'm by no means an expert.

That's the kind of thing that we're dealing with. Also, we have a loft that was converted to a bedroom. So, that makes it a 3 bedroom home. But they say you can't list it as that so they have to call it a bonus room. But there are no comps that have that. I feel like I don't want to leave money on the table but at the same time don't want to be an idiot and not listen to my agent who has a lot of experience. :banghead: I hate this process.

you can challenge the appraisal if it comes back low. My wife has had to do it a couple of times (shes the realtor) as i have stated a couple times and as others have mentioned...since the buyer is paying it you wont know what your home appraises at unless there is an issue.

your realtor should be able to help.

Yes, zillow is useful but it is not perfect. And my point was that I did a refi 5 years ago. There was an appraisal done then. They used comps for that appraisal then as well as doing a thorough inspection of the home. Since then, the home has gotten some things fixed and/or upgraded. So why wouldn't the home be more valuable than even that appraisal? But my agent gave me a suggestion on a price to list it which is about 7% lower than that appraisal. It just doesn't make sense to me. But like Rod said, my home is more unique and it's a little difficult to find a home that is similar. It's old and back in those days they didn't do cookie cutter houses.

I would never trust Zillow for a true estimate of price.

yep, once good thing zillow can do is give you a good visual representation of your local area and what properties are listed at. your realtor will have more accurate info but it could give you a mental picture of how you stack up against your competition.

Yep. Zillow lists my home way above market value because it heavily relies on total square footage. The county only utilize compatibles and last known assessment.

According to Zillow I own the most expensive house in the neighborhood.

obviously you undervalue your grand mahogany staircase and Tiffany chandler. :P

we had the exact opposite issue depending on the day. some days it would show roughly what it should be other times it was off 90k (again i know this because my wife is a realtor). its annoying because some buyers do think zillow is very accurate and they get upset when the realtor has to explain why its not.