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by Charles Hanes

"Dog Suites"

Here's the low down - Exclusive from Simplycondos.com

I am confident that I’m not bursting anyone’s bubble when I say that every condo development has good suites and not-so-good suites (in the business we call them "dog suites")... read more>>

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SO WHAT EXACTLY IS A COMPARATIVE MARKET ANALYSIS

by Charles Hanes, Broker

So, you are thinking about selling your home and you are concerned over the potential of
selling it for less than “fair market value” (the price that the market says is the right one). You should also be aware that by setting a selling price higher than what “fair market value” is, you are running the risk that it doesn’t sell at all, or possibly worse, it sits around languishing for sale for months which usually casts a cloud of uncertainty around your property that suggests to buyers that there must be something wrong with the property.

This is why “for sale by owner” simply has not taken off! Oh, I know some people share success stories of having sold their own homes but really, how do they know that they got the best price possible? A professional Realtor doesn’t arbitrarily set a price or value on your home and they are not functioning on any emotional motivations or misgivings (which many owners are functioning on).

Before putting your property on the market and/or setting a price, it is important that you first have an objective and factually based estimate of its value. This is easily accomplished by having an experienced local Realtor that specializes in your type of property and area provide you with what our industry calls a “Comparative Market Analysis”.

Let’s examine what this beast represents. To come with an objective and factual value, you have got to have meaningful access to a broad spectrum of sales information in your area and there is only one place that this information is available and that is called the Multiple Listing Service (“MLS”) which is a comprehensive database exclusively available to Realtor through your local real estate board.

A “Comparative Market Analysis”, or “CMA”, is a valuable service for home sellers to enable them to develop a meaningful basis on which they can establish the “true value” of their property, but can is a significant benefit to home buyers as they don’t want to overspend on their acquisition of a property.

A Comparative Market Analysis, uses as a basis how much properties similar to yours have sold for recently. You know, the only true voice in this business is that of “the market”. Realtors, as knowledgeable as we are, quite frankly are bias. When looking to “List” a property we tend to estimate value on the high side to instill confidence and motivation level of the Seller (I don’t List properties to insure my buyer clients that I hold no conflict of interest in recommending properties – hey, if I have listings I would certainly be tempted to lean them toward my listings to enable me to receive commissions on both ends). Recent sales (within 3 – 4 months) clearly shows you what the market says a similar property is worth, based on certain variables that an objective Comparative Market Analysis factors in.

When we say similar properties, it’s important to state that no property is actually similar other than in appearance. It might have the same number of bedrooms for example but who knows what physical condition each property is in, what upgrades it has, the overall square footage, construction quality, amenities, etc., etc., etc.

Another key piece of data in the equation is how many competing properties similar to yours are presently on the market and how long they have been on the market. Can you imagine trying to find out this type of meaningful information without actual documented information?

Other factors are how quickly you must sell and were any of the historic sold units sold under duress. Again only the comprehensive data found on mls can show you these stats. (not the duress issue but if one sold price represents an anomaly or sold substantially below the other comparables, then one can reasonably assume that it was sold under some kind of duress thus not really representing the value of yours).

Any real estate sales person can offer you a FREE CMA and you will find most ads out there offering to do this for you. In the condo world, there is more meaningful information needed in this area as the history of the condo and/or it’s developer does not appear on mls and the realtor that you choose has got to have thorough first hand knowledge of the industry, all of which is not academically available.

A CMA is only useful to you when it is done by a Realtor who specializes in this niche market of real estate and that’s what you can count on when working with a simplycondos.com affiliate (Realtor with whom we work when our clients want to list their property). Every simplycondos.com affiliate is personally selected, recruited and trained by me so you can rest assured that you are not only getting statistics when you register with me. You are getting my almost 30 years of hands on experience as well as the professional one to one listing services by a Realtor that knows not only the academics but also the inside scoop, for which I am uniquely qualified.

Charles "Laurie" Hanes, Broker, Sutton Group Tower Realty Ltd., Brokerage, Phone: 416-783-5000, Fax: 416-783-6082