Your real estate agency can provide a free CMA that contains the details of recent sales in your neighborhood combined with information on the supply of homes currently for sale in the New Orleans area and the current real estate market.
Knowing your home’s value, even if you’re not selling your New Orleans house immediately, can prepare you for the future.
Whether you’re staying or selling, knowing your home’s value has several benefits. Plans can be upended and circumstances can change, so keeping yourself informed can prepare you to sell your New Orleans house quickly if you need to.
Knowing your home’s current value can also help you determine what you’d like to do to add to its value, and can help inform important financial decisions such as whether to refinance, buy a new homeowners insurance policy, or invest in a major upgrade or repair. Here are a few of the reasons for understanding your home’s value and how your local real estate agent can help you come up with an estimate.
What affects your home’s value?
Simply put, a home’s value is an estimate of the amount it would likely to sell for at the moment. Calculating the value of your home takes into consideration some concrete factors including location, the number of bedrooms, and how updated the house is. Others factors, like how many similar homes are on the market right now, or the time of year you’re listing, are less obvious influences.
The home’s value will always remain an educated guess. It’s based on what a buyer would be willing to pay at this point in time. This estimate changes along with market upheavals, evolution of the neighborhood, and the aging of the property. You have to treat it as a snapshot, but a valuable one nonetheless.
Reasons to Know Your Home’s Value
There are a few very good reasons, including if you’re planning to:
- You will absolutely need to know the value of your property in order to determine the asking price.
- Knowing your equity will help you determine the terms of the loan and the amount of your mortgage, helping you negotiate a better rate or a lower payment.
- Get a line of credit. In some situations, getting a home equity line of credit makes sense, but you need to know your equity level to see if you qualify and to negotiate the best terms.
- Make home improvements. Depending on your asking price and the comparable prices in the neighborhood, some repairs and upgrades may not yield much return on investment.
- Purchasing proper insurance coverage. Most homes are underinsured, some by as much as 60 percent. Knowing the true value of your home can help you avoid buying too little insurance.
- Prepare for unforeseen circumstances. You can’t know what the future has in store in you, and life can throw some unexpected curveballs. You can try to stay ahead by taking the first steps in case you have to sell your home on short notice.
How to Estimate Your Home’s Value
Even if you have had some experience with real estate transactions, your own feelings and memories could cloud your judgment when it comes to estimating your house’s real value.
The best recommendation is to get a professional opinion. You can hire an appraiser, or get a free home evaluation called a comparative market analysis (CMA) from a local real estate agency. At Satsuma, we offer them at no cost, and it’s a great way to compare properties similar to yours in size, location, condition, and upgrades that are for sale in your area.
For a CMA, we analyze the details of recent sales in your neighborhood and combine this with information on the supply of homes currently for sale in New Orleans, taking into consideration the current climate of the local real estate market. A typical CMA may contain listings that are active, pending, sold, expired, and canceled. With this valuable market data in hand, you’ll be able to make informed decisions regarding your property.
Let a New Orleans real estate professional help you.
By working with our team, you will also receive attention customized to your specific goals and needs, with the benefit of a deep, micro-level knowledge of the local market, neighborhood by neighborhood. We use local insight and strategic negotiation skills based on that knowledge to ask the right questions and obtain actionable data about homes for sale.
We can tell you which mistakes to avoid when estimating the worth of your home, which home features are most attractive to prospective buyers, and which easy upgrades can increase your home’s value. We’ll teach you how to think like a buyer, and can share a wealth of our own personal experience with renovation and remodeling.
Are you ready to sell your NOLA home, or just curious to see how your home stacks up on the local market? Contact our experienced agents to get answers and to ensure you get the best price for your property.