|
The CMA (or Property Profile) can help you determine a competitive price for your home. This document may be named something different depending on your geographical location. You can order
one of these by calling your local Title or Escrow office customer service department. Let them know you are a "FSBO" and they will be happy to help you.
(You can also get one online within minutes
here).
Why? Title
and Escrow companies would like you to use them to
complete the Title or Escrow work on the sale of your home. They will take care of you and look after your best interests. They are actually a disinterested third party and their job is to look after both you and the buyer and to make sure the legal documentation is recorded properly.
The CMA contains the public record documentation that has been recorded on the property, information regarding important characteristics of your home and geographical information such
as schools, government offices, and medical facilities. It also records recent sales that have
occurred in your neighborhood.
All recorded documentation is a matter of public record and copies can be obtained at the County Recorders Office for a small fee.
It even includes information regarding who you make your mortgage payment to. The interest rate, however, is not
available as public record although it
has been known to show up on other recorded documents.
The CMA will not only consist of the recorded information on your home, but also:
- the total square footage of the lot and your home.
the number of bedrooms and bathrooms you have.
a map of the utility easements specified by the city or county engineers.
Title companies package this information and provide it to their customers, usually at no charge. Imagine how long it would
take you to acquire this information by researching it yourself!!
Determine a Sales Price
When reviewing your CMA, you should only be interested in properties that have sold in the last six months and within one mile
from your home. These parameters are established because of appraisal guidelines. Try and locate 3 properties that have sold and closed escrow within that
six-month period. If there aren't any, then find the most recent sales that have
occurred. Compare all of the similar characteristics of
your property and those that have sold.
Here is a list of some characteristics that comparable sales will have:
- total number of rooms in the house
number of bedrooms
number of bathrooms
Stories (levels)
Quality of the home (condition)
Roof material
wall material
number of patios
square footage of patio
square footage of pool
number of garages
square footage of garages
number of units (how many dwellings or how many families can live apart from each other)
year built
square footage of lot or number of acres
square footage of building
square footage of living room/family room
number of fireplaces
A/C type
Heating type
Date sold
Price per square foot
Sales price or loan amount
Using a highlighter on your property, identify the year built, square feet of the lot and the house, the number of bedrooms,
total number of rooms in house, number of garages and fireplaces, and any other item that is pertinent to your home. Now compare each characteristic of your home with others. You should find some properties that have sold which are exactly like your home,
especially if you are in a housing tract. The selling price of one of those homes will be a good ballpark figure. You might want to start at the one that sold at the highest price, depending on the listed
"condition" of both properties.
The necessary adjustments for upgrades should be considered when arriving at the sales price. This is not an "appraised" value, but an "estimated" value. If you have considerable upgrades that have been done to your property,
then you should speak to a professional regarding the value of your home. The value of the upgrade will be determined by the geographical area the home is located in, not the cost of the upgrade itself.
WARNING! The actual cost of an upgrade does not raise the value of the property by the amount of the upgrade cost. For example: If you paid $20,000 to add a pool, the value of the home might increase
$10,000. To get a more accurate "estimate", contract a local appraiser. Typically, a CMA will not provide you with the numbers to make those adjustments. The kind of pool and the property's geographical area (neighborhood aggregate value) will determine how much
the adjustment will be.
If you do call an appraiser,
DO NOT ORDER AN APPRAISAL! Explain to them that you are an "FSBO", and ask them to help you place a value on the upgrade that will be consistent with similar values in your
neighborhood. |
|
FOR THE HOME OWNER
