Estimating Home Values In a Turbulent Real Estate Market Cumberland MD

Determining the real value of a property can be difficult in the current market. By understanding and researching location values, and building a due diligence file of properties in the area, investors can more accurately assess the real value of properties they are considering. See the following article from REIClub for more on this.


In today's market where there are so many foreclosure and bank REO sales, figuring out the real value of a property can be difficult. The comparable sales method is the most commonly used -- and still the most accurate one -- to determine the value of single-family homes, condominiums and smaller rental buildings (two to four units).

Start by researching information about sold properties on your local government Web sites for your target area. Many tax assessor's offices and county courthouses offer searchable online databases that allow you to view the prices for properties within a specific area. They usually list full details about the properties, including square footage. Plus, subscriber Web sites such as Electronic Appraiser (www.electronicappraiser.com) give you detailed information, particularly in areas where online data is scarce.

Free Web sites such as Zillow (www.zillow.com) also offer property data, but the information is less detailed than the paid sites. For example, the seller's name may be missing, which could be relevant if the seller was a bank, as in the case of a foreclosure sale. If that's the case, it ca'’t be considered a comparable sale because the property was sold in distress.

Be careful about using Web sites that offer a computer-generated valuation. These are called automated valuation models (AVMs), which aggregate sales data from comparable properties to determine an estimated price. While AVMs can be a benchmark for determining value, they can be off by as much as 10% or more. With a little research, you can pinpoint the value to as close as 3 to 5% percent.

The most useful computer database for getting information about comparable properties is the local MLS. This database shows the number of days on market and includes notes that indicate whether the property was updated, whether the seller offered concessions on the sale and so on. This additional data is generally not available through other sources, so asking a real estate agent or appraiser to help you will be crucial, because most MLS systems aren't accessible to the general public.

While many factors come into play when you're evaluating a residential property's value by "comps" (comparable sales), the three key factors are location, size (square footage) of the home and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Obviously, you'll need to look at many other aspects before you can pinpoint the exact value of a property, but these are the "big three". You should be able to look at comparable sales involving properties with these three factors and get a good idea of the value of the ...

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