Decoding the Comparative Market Analysis

Moving is hard, and not a move anyone takes lightly. Your house is more than just an investment, it is your home. As you begin the process of distancing yourself from the place where you made so many lasting memories you will begin to think about what your home will be worth to someone else. When you are ready to meet with a real estate broker, you may already have an idea of what your home is worth. You may have seen what other homes in your neighborhood have sold for or kept an eye on local listings. Your broker will prepare a comparative market analysis (CMA) that is an in-depth version of any research you may have done on your own. The CMA is used to help evaluate how your home will fare against the competition. It takes a look at homes that are currently listed, pending (properties under contract) as well as those sold within the past 6 months. The purpose is to find the market value and help position your home on the open market.

A Picture Of Your Home And Its Surroundings

The CMA includes a fact-based portrait of the home including information such as number of bedrooms and baths, approximate square footage, size of major rooms, age of the home, property taxes, and desirable amenities such as fireplaces and pools. In most expert’s opinion, the floor plan or the architectural design of the home I crucial in comparing , since price per square foot is often consider and we need to compare apples to apples. A rambler should be compared to other rambler and a two-story to other two stories etc. an appraiser will do this in the financing process and we want to make sure that we have properly priced the home to appraise and make sure we can take the contract to completion. The range can also vary. Some will just cover a few streets around your home, CMAs can cover areas as narrow as one or two streets surrounding your home, or as broad as an entire subdivision.

Value Is In The Eye Of The Beholder (Or Potential Buyer)

Selling a home isn’t only about the facts. There are many pieces to the puzzle and it’s often the indefinable that impact a potential buyer’s perception of the home. A home purchase remains fundamentally personal. Most transactions are influenced by the buyer’s emotions versus rationalization. Perception can alter reality and so this is an important consideration when looking at a CMA. People make decisions based on curb appeal, light, design choices and many other factors. At the end of each home’s information on the CMA report there will be a brief statement provided by the listing agent that will address some of these subjective factors such as recent remodels, historic features, or things that might be of interest to the buyers. The agent will be marketing the home and is already thinking about how it will be presented as a product to tempt the public.

The CMA Evolution

The CMA is evolving since the Internet era, partly because the potential seller does some homework ahead of time and access to information is no longer just the purview of the real estate professional. It has increased the amount of avenues now available to display more accurate and precise information ranging from short sales, foreclosures and arm-length sales data. While sellers have access to data, an objective professional that is both objective and up to date on contractual nuances, is an asset to a seller in achieving their goal to sell at the highest possible price.