What 4 Methods Can You Use to Determine Your Home’s Value?

There are four ways to determine your home’s value. Some of these ways, however, are more reliable than the others.

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What are four methods to determine your home’s value? The first and most basic way is to take a look at your tax assessment. If you got your assessment in the mail, you can look at that. In most counties, you can also visit the county assessor website and check there. In our area, the county assessed home values every two years, and they do so using basic information such as the size of the land and the size of the finished space. There are a couple issues you might have with this method. First, the information they use might be old. The other issue is it’s a very basic method that’s applied with a formula using only certain criteria. This is a decent method to compare your home’s value against your neighbors’ homes, but it’s not the most accurate or up-to-date valuation method. The second method is a free home evaluation website. One of the more popular free home evaluation websites is Zillow, which features their Zestimate tool. A Zestimate gathers information from the county records and combines that with recent sales of other homes in the area. It’s beneficial that Zillow takes into account recent sales of other homes, but what’s not beneficial is they don’t have anyone actually walk through your home. This means they can’t tell the difference between a home that’s been completely remodeled and a home across the street that’s in the same condition it was years ago. If you’re curious about what’s happening with home values in your area, this is a good way to get started.

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Having an agent do a CMA is the most comprehensive method to finding your home’s value.

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The third method is an appraisal. An appraisal happens when you either refinance a house, you buy a house using financing, or you sell a house and the buyer’s lender has ordered the appraisal. The downside to this method is an appraisal typically costs between $500 and $550, so if you’re just curious what your home is worth, it’s probably not a good investment because in two years that appraisal won’t be valid anyway. For the most part, appraisals only happen in a transaction when there’s a loan involved. The appraiser’s job is to make sure the lender is able to safely lend the purchase amount that’s been requested. Lastly, you can contact an agent and ask them to do a CMA, or comparative market analysis. There are a few benefits of a CMA. The first is most agents don’t charge for one. Second, they’re able to look at the market as a whole instead of recent home sales. We can then make some projections and give you an idea of not only what your home’s value is, but also what it may be going forward. Unlike automated websites, agents can actually come out to your home and make adjustments for its different features. If your home is similar to your neighbor’s home that sold a month ago but yours has an extra 300 square feet, that needs to be accounted for. If you have any questions or you’re thinking of selling your home in the future and you want to know what it’s worth, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to help you.

Pros & Cons: Buying vs. Renting a Home

Is it better to buy or rent a home? I have a few things to consider when it comes to that question.

Looking to buy in the Stafford/Fredericksburg area? Perform a full home search 

Looking to sell in the Stafford/Fredericksburg area? Get a free Home Price Evaluation

Is it smarter to buy a home or rent in the market right now? The answer to that question will always depend on your situation. So, today, I’ll give you a couple things to think about as you’re trying to make that decision. A recent Fed report said that long-term homeowners have as much as a 36x higher net worth than long-term renters. The important thing to know is that if you put yourself in the right situation when buying a house for long-term residence, it’s usually a good decision. On the flip side of that, there are times when you absolutely should not be a buyer and when renting is a much better option. The first thing you need to consider before doing anything else is whether or not you are financially ready. A preliminary call with a lender can help you figure out what your credit looks like and how your current debts may affect your mortgage qualification. At the lender’s recommendation, you may want to work on paying down debts or making some changes to your credit situation before starting the home buying process. If that means renting for a couple of years while you work through that, then that might ultimately be a good financial decision for you. Next, are you in an overall stable financial position? Do you have an emergency fund that enables you to take care of certain issues that might pop up without warning? The great thing about renting is that the landlord takes on that responsibility if the issue is with the property itself. With renting, you don’t have the long-term gain that you would with owning a home, but you also don’t have the short-term pain of having to pay for the repair of an appliance or roof for example.

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A lender can help you figure out what your credit looks like and how your current debts may affect your mortgage qualification.

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When you feel you’re ready, talk to a lender to get pre-approved. A great lender is there to help you make good financial decisions. They can tell you about the state of your credit, whether your income is large enough to make purchasing affordable, and other critical specifics about your finances. Another benefit that comes from speaking with a lender is that they can answer your questions about down payments. We’ve got a huge military presence locally and the VA loan allows a lot of people purchasing in our area to purchase without the requirement of a down payment. If you aren’t a veteran or an active service member, your lender can discuss different loan options with you that offer flexible down payment amounts; you won’t necessarily need to put 20% down. With cash-on-hand being a barrier to homeownership for many, this is an important call to make. Finally, consider how long you plan to live in that home. You might be in a great financial position now, with qualifications for a good loan and down payment, but if you’re only going to live there for a couple years, you might want to consider your long-term goal before moving forward. During that short period, the market may not have increased enough to cover the expenses to sell. You may be buying with the plan to rent the home and hold it as an investment. This can be a great decision as long as you have spoken with your agent about what’s involved with being a landlord and how to set things up to be successful. If you have any questions about buying or renting or would like to review your current situation, feel free to give us a call. We’d love to help you through the process.