Sellers
Property for Sale, Real Estate Experts, Manjit Hayer PREC, BC, Real Estate Services

How can I find out how much my house is worth?

There are no comparable homes in my area.

This may be a bad sign for you, especially if you think your house is worth more than other houses in your neighborhood.  Homes maintain their value better if the neighboring properties are fairly similar.

In your situation, you may actually have to talk to several Realtors, get their opinions, and come up with some sort of consensus. Without knowing why there are no comparable properties in your area it is difficult to give another suggestion. If your lot or home is over-improved for the area, that means the value will most not likely be what you think it is. If your home is much larger, you might not get the same cost per square foot as other homes in the area.

So I would talk to a bunch of Realtors and get their opinions. I would not recommend hiring an appraiser, however, even though a lot of books recommend this. Appraisers are better at “justifying” a price than in determining market value.

Where can I get information about the asking prices of properties that have sold during the last six months? I have found information on the selling prices, and would like to compare them to the asking prices.

The only place I can think of where you can obtain that information is the Multiple Listing Service,  you could ask an agent to obtain the information for you. I cannot think of any reason why an agent would not be willing to give you that information, so just ask to have a market analysis done on your property.

Keep in mind that much more goes into the market value of a house than it’s square footage. For example, two houses next door to each other can have the same square footage, but if one has two bathrooms and the other has only one, guess which one will probably be worth more? It will also cost more per square foot.

However, if you compare recent sales of similar homes, the cost per square foot should be similar to those properties. You can ask your agent to provide you with comparable sales data.