Finding Comparable Homes when Selling a Kenai House
Something that many Kenai homeowners struggle with is finding the correct set of comparable homes to compare their home to when setting a sale price. Knowing what a Kenai house is valued at is not a cut and dry process. It is not like an item in a store that has a clear price. It all depends on the Kenai market, the condition of the home, and the comparable sales in the area.
Homeowners often attempt to find the right value to put on their home, but look at the wrong comparable homes to do so.
Closer is Better
When talking about a house that is within a Kenai neighborhood, comparable homes should be no more than a half-mile away. Anything further than that and the sale is not going to accurately represent the demands of the market. For those working in less populated areas, the search may need to extend further. Most sellers, however, should concentrate on the direct neighbors to find the fight comparable homes.
Always Changing
A major mistake that many Kenai homeowners make is looking at old sales. Sales that were completed a year or more before are unreliable.
The Kenai real estate market has changed drastically in the last year and that price is no longer applicable. That same house could sell for drastically less or even more if sold now.
This is why sellers should always look at homes that have sold within the last few months and avoid anything older than six months.
Using The Wrong Formula
Finding comparable homes is not as simple as pulling up data on the Kenai neighbors. Comparable homes need to be houses that have sold recently as well line up on the important metrics that go far beyond the generic statistics that a real estate website will provide. If paying attention to items like the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the square footage, and the size of the lot it is focusing on the appraisal of the home.
While this information is necessary to find the price of the Kenai house it is not the end-all, be-all to the situation. Looking at renovations, location, proximity to amenities, and other opinion-based items will change the pricing.
Make Sure The House Is Sold
Even though the neighbor thinks they can get $300,000 for their house it does not mean that it is accurately priced. Only look at Kenai houses that are sold. Pending sales can fall through and it is often because negotiations with the price could not be worked out. The only true indicator of the Kenai market are the houses that are already sold.
Looking at houses that are for sale is a good way to size up the competition. Sometimes pricing competitively is helpful if the market calls for it. This means that it is important to pay attention to the other houses for sale only after looking at comparable houses.
At the end of the day, buyers are going to have a huge say in what a house will be listed for. Unless the Kenai market is a seller’s market the buyer is going to determine if a house will sell at the listed price. The value of a home is constantly fluctuating and the seller has to stay up to date on the comparable homes in their area to find accurate pricing.