Would you like to find out what your house is really worth? No BS. No salesman will visit your home. I’m not offering a Free Home Evaluation.
How can I find how much my house is worth?
Sadly, there is no formula for finding out how much your home is worth. It is not the square footage times some multiplier. It’s not your assessed value plus 20%. You can’t break it down on a spreadsheet with values for neighborhood, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, size of yard. (Actually you probably could but you’d need a lot of data). The best way to know the true value of your home is to have a real estate agent visit your home provide you with a CMA – Comparative Market Analysis and a Free Home Evaluation.
Free Home Evaluations
Unfortunately, Free Home Evaluations have long been a tried and true method used by real estate agents to get their foot in the door. I written about it before. Here’s an excerpt.
If you want a FREE HOME EVALUATION you should know that almost every agent offers “FREE HOME EVALUATIONS”. Google “free home evaluations” now and see what comes up. I’ll be happy to provide one too.
But maybe you’re not ready to speak with a salesperson yet. Maybe you’d like some accurate and credible information on home sales.
The Offer:
A Neighborhood Sales Report
Call or email with:
1). Your full name
2). Your address and phone number
3). How long you’ve been at the address
And I will send you a one page Neighborhood Sales Report showing what houses sold in your neighborhood: address, amount, date, lot size, distance, $/m2. The report also includes a map (250 meter radius around your house) and the neighborhood sales statistics giving you the: neighborhood SOLD price range, average sale value and the standard deviation. This is historical, accurate and public information. It’s free for the asking.
The Contract
I will follow up to discuss the information provided and offer my services. The Neighbourhood Sales Report is the beginning of a conversation and perhaps a business relationship.
It’s a brand new world
It’s a brand new world. We’ve left the industrial age and we have entered the information age. Our service economy has become a network economy. These are the things I believe in and the way I conduct real estate business reflect these beliefs.
I’ve written before about how out of touch many businesses, including real estate agents, are with the new environment. They are still doing business the old fashion way. Broadcasting their listings on social media, pressuring clients with old school sales tactics. They want to pull you through the process kicking and screaming.
Why hasn’t the real estate business changed yet?
Encyclopedia Britannia stopped printing encyclopedias a few years ago. Newsweek stopped publishing it’s weekly news magazine. Travel agents have all but disappeared. No one want to receive a telephone book anymore. Music stores and CDs are almost gone. CD-ROMs, remember CD-ROMs? Gone, done – kerput. Lots of large companies have hollowed themselves out from the inside, eliminating middle managers and redundancies as new efficiencies are found. But why hasn’t the real estate business changed yet?
Your cell phone service provider
Your cell phone service provider is in a unique position to help you. They know exactly how many minutes you use, how much data, if you are a texter or a talker. They know. They have lots of plans too. And their plans are always changing. But what do they do. Nothing. They sigh you up to a three-year contract and then when you are about to leave they say “Hey, stay and we’ll give you this. This is a better plan for you”.
The Kitchener Public Library
A couple of years ago the Kitchener Public Library did something I really appreciate. They changed the way they notify you about your books due date. Previous to the change, I’d get an email 3 or 4 days after the due date telling me my books are late. After the change, they notify me 3 or 4 days before the due date that they are coming due. I know it’s only pocket change but I always felt cheated under the old system.
There is a better way
Knowing what your home is worth is important information to have if you are thinking of selling your home. It’s where you start. And when you do sell it’s often where you end. The idea is to start at a credible list price and end up at the true market price. Pricing is the critical part and the most difficult part.
Most home sellers want to get as much as they can for their home. They understand their home’s current appeal. They bought it and have lived in it for many years after all. But potential home sellers are rarely correct in estimating their home’s current market value.
Why?
1). They undervalue their home. They have been “out of the market” for so long that they don’t realize how much prices have gone up. Or the market price has escalated very quickly (like in Woodstock when the Honda plant was announced) and they are caught unaware.
2). They overvalue their home. They have been watching the market, talking to neighbors, looking at list prices and perhaps even going to open houses. They think they know what their house is worth, but list prices are not the same as sale prices. Talk is cheap. Your neighbor will tell you he “got what he wanted” for his house, but did he get his list price?
We have the technology. We have the experience.
One of the first rules about real estate is make your home easy to buy. You do this by putting it in its best selling shape and by pricing it right. And where is the best place to get the right price? From a professional real estate agent who has the tools and the experience and knows what’s happening in the market.
I believe
I believe you get what you give. I treat the customer like I want to be treated. I offer the Neighborhood Sales Report to demonstrate ability and establish trust. There is a better way. Do the right thing and do the thing right.
You’re not stupid
You don’t think some chump just in from Toronto or Vancouver with bags full of money are going to drop by your open house and offer you too much for your house. We are all working from the same information. In today’s real estate market having pricing your home correctly is of paramount importance.
