How much is your home worth? From current day fair market values to instant home estimator tools, knowing your property’s value can help you make decisions about how and when to sell, and whether or not you should invest in repairs and updates. Ultimately, you need to know what your net proceeds might be if you decide to go through the process of selling your home.
Property values are somewhat subjective and are based on a number of factors – including location, market trends, condition and age of the house, and more.
There are a number of ways to estimate your home’s worth. Let’s take a look at four ways to find out your property value in Charlotte:
1. Online Home Worth Estimators
The quickest, but not necessarily most accurate way is to use an online estimator. Keep in mind that an online tool will give you a value even if the data available to make the estimation is limited. For this reason, online calculators are not highly accurate but can give you an excellent ballpark figure. Public information about the history of your property is available online as well, such as when it has been sold and what it has historically sold for.
Zillow’s “Zestimate” tool is one of the most popular tools available and gives homeowners a rough breakdown of what the house is currently worth, the neighborhood details, values of similar homes to help you get an idea of what your rough proceeds might look like. Closing costs are always a factor in proceeds for sellers as well. You can get an idea of closing costs using our closing calculator here.
2. FHFA House Price Calculator
Whether you use a calculator or not, it is also a good idea to compare it to the Federal Housing Financing Agencies house index calculator. This method uses information on conventional, conforming mortgages to determine how much home values are appreciating (or depreciating) in a given area over time.
This is a quick way to see how much your home’s value may have appreciated since you bought it. However, it isn’t pinpoint accurate either as it doesn’t take into account seasonal fluctuations, inflation, or physical factors such as the condition of your home. It may also surprise you how much it might differ from the estimate you got from Zillow, or another calculator.
Here is a link to the HPI Calculator
3. Get a Professional Home Appraisal
The most accurate way to find out your home’s value is to hire a professional home appraiser in Charlotte. Buyers usually have to hire appraisers to satisfy their lender’s requirement that the home is worth what they are paying for it. However, anyone can hire an appraiser independently to find out their property value.
Appraisers do a visual inspection, look at market conditions in the area, and other details about the property including comparable properties and gather information on sales, vacancies, prices, depreciation, and other relevant factors. From an appraiser prepares a detailed report on how they reached this value.
4. Talk to a Real Estate Professional
Real Estate Professionals, both agents and investors, will be able to give you a good idea of your home’s worth. When you hire a real estate agent they will run a comparative market analysis on your house to see how other homes in the area stack up. Be careful about engaging with real estate agents, however, once you sign a contract you are legally obligated to work with them – even if you change your mind. Before committing to the traditional sales process of staging, repairing and marketing your property – take a look at the cost of the repairs and your estimated closing costs, which could be over 10% of the sale price.
Use a Real Estate Investor to Get a Fair Offer
Using a real estate investor here at Quick Fix Real Estate is an alternative to the traditional process of selling real estate. Ultimately, it’s a work-around for people who don’t want to stage and market their homes and make costly up-front repairs with no guarantee that they will get their money back.
At Quick Fix, many clients come to us because we guarantee a fair, all cash-offer on any home and in any condition.
Take a look at some of our how it works or simply contact us to get started on your fair cash offer today.
