topic Re: Home value/selling price in Seattle

Home value/selling price

mccurdyc — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:01:15 GMT

Afternoon!

We're considering selling our house and we were wondering what the market value of our house would be, and/or what improvements would make the most bang for the buck. We've compared comps ourselves, but as we're biased an outside opinion would be highly appreciated.

To accomplish this, should I talk to a home appraiser, or someone else? We're not looking to be told what we want to hear, but rather know if selling our house is at all reasonable (given the current housing market).

If a house appraiser is the way to go, does anyone have any recommendations of someone who will compare comps, do a thorough job/etc. Also, how much should I expect this to run.

Thanks!

Re: Home value/selling price

bbalkis — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:07:11 GMT

If you are selling your house to buy a newer and better one in Seattle market - you are making a big mistake. This is not the right time unless you have some disposal credit..

Reason is you will have to price toooo low for your house to sell within a month. BUT when it comes to buy a new one, you may not find many great low price options and most likely you will spend some cash in these transactions & commissions.

Today's market is ONLY good for buyers holding warm cash in their pockets.

Of course this may not be applicable in your case.Maybe you are only trying to get rid of your mortgage.. I just wish good luck with your decision..

Re: Home value/selling price

mccurdyc — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:43:35 GMT

This is actually more of a situation where a family emergency may force us to relocate to a different city. If such were the case, I'd like to be able to get out of my lease with minimal burn marks (as we have made 10k worth of improvements). However as I bought that house a year ago, that's a bit unlikely.

So we are fishing to see how much the house is valued at so we can prepare accordingly.

Thanks!

Re: Home value/selling price

Mlindekugel — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:21:44 GMT

If any of the $10k is for capital improvements to the house (and you have receipts), then the cost basis of your house is the original basis plus the cost of the capital improvements. You need to verify this information with your CPA.

Improvements don’t always transfer to an increased selling value especially in a down market. For example, stainless steal appliances may not increase the value of your house. They will help you sell when competitor doesn’t have them. A custom kitchen remodel in a house you planned to live in for 20 years may be the custom remodel the general market wouldn’t choose. It may be too custom.

I wouldn’t spend more money on capital improvements to increase the value of your home unless you can obtain at least a +30% return on capital. For example, if you spend $1, then the sale price better increase $1.30. in addition to money, you have spent your time and energy running around. There is a real economic opportunity cost for your time and the interest on the funds not invested.

Re: Home value/selling price

Klaus-Gosma — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:17:34 GMT

Hi there -

I agree with the other respondents that this is a very tough time to sell (I'm one of the listing agents here at Redfin). Especially if you have only been in the home a year, prices are flat if not down depending on where you live so there won't be much equity to play with and it costs typically 8-9% to sell your house. If you submit your listing information to Redfin, we can look at comparable homes in your area and create an estimated net proceeds sheet for you that will break down the different fees. Because of the slim margins unless there are any glaring issues with the house it may not behoove you to spend the additional money on improvements or upgrades at this time.

An appraisal is a great way to get a different opinion on what market value might be; they typically cost $300-$500. Most are pretty standard format; they find comps of similar age and size and compare all of their features, then give you a recommendation on price.

If you need trusted appraiser, please let us know. We can send that information on to your personal email.

Klaus

Quick edit from Janelle to add additional info.

Message Edited by JanelleS on 07-03-2008 11:17 AM

Re: Home value/selling price

JanelleS — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:26:13 GMT

Although you are seeking an outside opinion, I thought I'd provide the following info just in case it may help you or any other Redfin Forums surfers. Here is a link to doing your own CMA on Redfin's site. You can even download this info to an Excel spreadsheet.

Sweet!

Re: Home value/selling price

Venturion — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:31:03 GMT

Janelle - I followed all of the CMA directions and I noticed sales from the last two years missing from my search. Sales from before 2006 show up fine. Do you know with whom I might discuss whether I've made some mistake during my search or if the search app is somehow not integrating properly with the database? Thanks, -V

Re: Home value/selling price

AdamW — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:40:39 GMT

Hey Venturion,

Can you provide a little more detail on your search criteria. I just tried a "Sale Record" search in capitol hill, and everything seemed to function normally.

The one thing I did notice is if I set my minimum square footage "high" and my max price "low" I only got older sale records. Homes in capitol hill have appreciated pretty significantly over the past few years, so larger homes in that neighborhood haven't sold for those prices in the last few years...

Perhaps one of your search criteria is skewing the results to older Sale Records?

Let us know and we'll dig into the problem here at Redfin HQ :)

Best,

Re: Home value/selling price

Venturion — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:54:19 GMT

Thanks, Adam. I will e-mail you the details to the address listed in your profile since this is somewhat OT. FYI, I did clear all the criteria so the results would be as broad as possible. Hopefully you can help me debug what I might be doing wrong. Thanks.