Establish an Asking Price for Your Home.

This blog is a part of a series on selling your home.  Click here for The Process for Selling Your House: An Overview.

Establishing an asking price close to market value is critical for effectively selling your home.  How do you find what the market value of your home is? 

Appraiser
Before you list your house, you could use an appraiser to find the market value of your house.  Most potential buyers will be obtaining a mortgage to purchase a home.  The house will need to appraise at or above the contract price.  The banks will use an appraiser at this stage to ensure the house appraises out. 

The drawback of using an appraiser is that it will cost $300-$500 to get the market value.

REALTOR®
A REALTOR® will often provide a free Comparative Market Analysis (CMA).  While preforming a CMA, a Realtor compares the houses for sale and the houses that have recently sold to your house.  In this process the Realtor will pull the pertinent information about your house to help compare.  This is the best way to get an idea of what your house will sell for at the current market.

Asking Price
Once you have the market value of your house established, your REALTOR® will help you develop a strategy for listing your house at a price that will best meet your goals within the frame work of the Market Value.