Buying a home isn’t easy. It takes a lot of money, time, energy, money, stress, effort, money, and money. Also, money.
Naturally, if you’re going to sink so much of yourself (and your bank account) in sometime, you want to make sure that it continues to be a worthwhile investment. How do you really know, though?
Here are some helpful tips for determining the value of your home:
Use the Internet
These days, there are very few questions that can’t be answered with a little help from our friends at Google (or Bing if you’re weird). There are all kinds of free online tools that homeowners can consult to see how much property is worth.
For instance, punching your address into a basic real estate search engine can help give you a rough estimate at what your home’s value is in the current market. Or, if you’re looking for something a bit more accurate, a seller closing costs calculator can help you determine just how much profit you stand to make by estimating not only your property’s value, but also common expenses like realtor commissions.
Compare & Contrast
Your home may feel as special and unique as a snowflake to you, but to everyone else in the real estate market, there are plenty of houses out there that are comparable. Don’t be glum; this is actually a good thing, in the sense that it allows you to get a better idea of how much your property is worth by seeing what similar properties are currently selling for.
It might not seem like the most scientific method, but the truth is that even professional home valuations reference comparable properties when determining your house’s worth. Important similarities to keep in mind when looking at other for-sale homes include region, condition, age, square footage, and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as presence of such things as driveways, garages, swimming pools, decks, and gardens.
Get an Appraisal
At the end of the day, if you really want to get the most accurate and up-to-date valuation of your home, you need to hire a professional appraiser. Or marry one (although that seems like a lot more work than is necessary in the long-run).
Hiring a professional appraiser might not be the cheapest option, but it can pay off big time. The knowledge and experience that an appraiser brings to proceedings is why virtually every lender in the US requires the use of one before approving a borrower for a loan. Having a professional appraiser backing you up can be a big help when disputing a low appraisal from a potential buyer, and the appraiser can even make recommendations for various renovations that could help raise your home’s overall value.
