Need CP expertise - Selling a home: Do you get an appraisal before listing your home?

[Lzen]

Or do you go with what your agent recommends?

We have an agent who is very experienced but I'm just not sure what I should do here. She has done a comparison analysis on our home and similar homes that have sold recently in the area. She gave me the three addresses and what they sold for and they were right in line with what she said. Her recommended asking price is about 7-14% less than what I thought it should be. We have done some things to the home to make it perhaps a little more valuable than when the last appraisal was done 5 years ago. Her recommendation was 7% less than that appraisal 5 years ago.

Should I spend the money to have a new appraisal? Keep in mind that what she said was just a recommendation. She did say that we could ask for more. But she said we should be willing to go down on price if it doesn't sell. I do want to get the house sold quickly as we have already contracted to buy a new house on the 25th and I really don't want to have to pay 2 mortgages for very long.

[Marcellus]

Appraisal isn't likely to change what the house actually sells for to be honest. The comparables usually set the homes value, it only needs to appraise enough to cover the loan someone is going to take against it.

My $.02

[TomBarndtsTwin]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Appraisal isn't likely to change what the house actually sells for to be honest. The comparables usually set the homes value, it only needs to appraise enough to cover the loan someone is going to take against it.

My $.02

This.

There's a reason appraisals are usually not done till after the inspection has been completed. They don't matter to the sale price. It's only for the loan.

Save yourself the money and have your agent list it for what you think it will sell for. If you don't get a bite, you can always lower it.

[KS Smitty]

Originally Posted by TomBarndtsTwin

This.

There's a reason appraisals are usually not done till after the inspection has been completed. They don't matter to the sale price. It's only for the loan.

Save yourself the money and have your agent list it for what you think it will sell for. If you don't get a bite, you can always lower it.

This is good advice.
We are currently going through this with Moms house that transferred to us kids upon her death.
The comps the realtor gave us were for homes similar to moms that sold and property only (there's 3 acres) that sold. After discussion amongst the 4 of us we decided to list the house and property at a higher price than what the realtor recommended and drop it after 3 weeks if we get no offers. It's prime property in Shawnee but the house will need some work so this gives us some negotiating room but should still allow us to get at least the appraised value.
Good luck Lzen!

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by TomBarndtsTwin

This.

There's a reason appraisals are usually not done till after the inspection has been completed. They don't matter to the sale price. It's only for the loan.

Save yourself the money and have your agent list it for what you think it will sell for. If you don't get a bite, you can always lower it.

It's things like this that make a real difference when it comes to using an agent... if the appraisal comes in low and the buyer can't make up the difference, they'll get creative and figure out how to make it work.... versus simply saying you might have to go down in price or whatever.

But yeah, the buyer will do one anyway and a month from now there could be other examples out there and it would be redone anyway, so there's really no point.

And you can do some math on it when it comes to taxes/etc. paid on that mortgage that you won't get back when you sell, versus differences in price, to tell you what makes sense and how long you can wait and still make it worth it, and when you should drop the price to sell.

[Saulbadguy]

Price it to sell and move on.

[ChiefsCountry]

Nope. Buyers will end up getting an appraisal that will determine the true value of the home unless they are paying cash.

[TribalElder]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

Nope. Buyers will end up getting an appraisal that will determine the true value of the home unless they are paying cash.

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

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by TribalElder

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.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by TribalElder

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

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.

[MahiMike]

Originally Posted by TribalElder

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 would never trust Zillow for a true estimate of price.

[xbarretx]

Originally Posted by MahiMike

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.

[007]

Originally Posted by MahiMike

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

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.

[xbarretx]

Originally Posted by 007

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.

[Flying High D]

You don’t have a hair on your ass if you ain’t carrying two mortgages. It’s the American way. Only thing better is three. **** a bunch of debt to income ratio.