No matter how attractive and polished your property may be, buyers will be comparing its price with everything else on the market. Your best guide is a record of what the buying public has been willing to pay in the past few months for property in your neighborhood like yours.
Your REALTOR® can furnish data on sale figures for those "comps", and analyze them for a suggested listing price. The decision about how much to ask, though, is always yours.
The list of comparable sales we will bring to you, along with data about other houses in your neighborhood presently on the market, is used for a "Comparative Market Analysis (CMA)." To help in estimating a possible sale price for your property, the analysis will also include data on comparable properties that failed to sell in the past few months, along with their list prices.
This CMA differs from a formal appraisal in several ways. One major difference is that an appraisal will be based only on past sales. In addition, an appraisal is done for a fee while the CMA is provided by your REALTOR® and may include properties currently listed for sale and those currently pending sale.
In the normal real estate sale, a CMA is probably enough to let you set a proper price. A formal written appraisal (which may cost a several hundred dollars) can be useful if you have unique property, if there hasn't been much activity in your area recently, if co-owners disagree about price, and any other circumstance that makes it difficult to put a value on your home.
TIP: If you do order a market value appraisal, make it clear you don't need an elaborate or full narrative report--the kind that's complete with photos of the house and neighborhood, a map specifying the site, and floor plans is sufficient.
