Weighing Comp’s and “Kind-of-Comp’s” The cornerstone of establishing market value for a given property is the CMA, or “Comparative Market Analysis.” As prepared by both Realtors and Appraisers, it consists of selecting a peer group of three homes (“Comparable Sold Properties”), then going through a compare-and-contrast process sizing up each of the Comp’s relative to the “subject”...Read More
Under Off the Radar In theory, to do a market analysis for a given home, you (“you” being a Realtor or Appraiser) log on to MLS, and do a search for similar, nearby homes that have sold within the last six months. Those are called “Comp’s,” and the magic number is three, good ones. Step...Read More
“Expired’s,” “Cancelled’s” Loom Larger Until a few years ago, I never spent much time looking at Expired or Cancelled listings when I was preparing a Comparative Market Analysis (“CMA”). Today? Depending on the part of town and property type, that’s often where I start. If you don’t take unsold listings into account these days —...Read More
The Blindfold Test, or, “Buyer Due Diligence” Want an old-fashioned way to tell if a given “For Sale” home is a value? Skip the complicated CMA (“Comparative Market Analysis”), detailed spreadsheets, etc. Instead, follow this two-step approach: One. Get up to speed in the area you’re interested in, familiarizing yourself with prevailing prices. Two. When you tour a...Read More
Pricing a Home When the Comp’s are Tough “You have to know the rules before you know when you can break them.” Normally, the standard way of doing a CMA (“Comparative Market Analysis”) is to limit your focus to three Comp’s, or “Comparable Sold Properties.” By definition, those are the nearby homes most similar in...Read More
Make that Three Times Once upon a time, I used to tell prospective Sellers that the Comparative Market Analysis (“CMA”) I was about to do would be repeated two more times. First, by the Buyer’s Realtor, trying to advise their client what to offer (and ultimately, to expect to pay). And second, by the appraiser dispatched...Read More
