You’ll want to select an agent who—
• Will promote your property online.
(Nearly 75 percent of the nation’s
potential homebuyers use the
Internet to aid real estate
transactions.)
• Sells a lot of homes in your area.
Your agent should provide you with
a Comparable Market Analysis (CMA),
which is based on recently closed sales,
pending sales and the number of properties for sale in a similar price range.
The data pulled should be very recent
(less than three months old if possible),
and comps should be within a half-mile.
However, if sales are sluggish in your area,
you may have to go back farther than
three months to find comps, discounting
your price three to five percent for each
additional month. All that data should
give you a starting point to decide how
to price your home. A good place to start
is Zillow.com, where you can track home
sales in your neighborhood. Information
is compiled from tax reports.
Larry Rowan of Coldwell Banker Res-
idential Brokerage in Schaumburg, IL
says it is important to know your com-
petition. “Your asking price should be
based on facts,” says Rowan. And those
facts aren’t limited to knowing what the
asking price is for homes with similar
square footage. You’ve got to know
what’s going on inside the home. Has
the kitchen been remodeled recently?
Are there two bathrooms upstairs versus
your one? Details like that are important
when figuring out how a buyer is going
to compare your house to others.
Rowan says details are even more
important now. “You’ve gotta be the best-looking house out there,” says Rowan.
“It’s got to look like a model home.”
• Is accessible and returns calls
quickly.
• Is willing to do open houses for
potential buyers (not just brokers).
