When you buy or sell a house, one of the most important things to determine is how much space there is in it! This is called a property valuation.
A professional valuer will go into the house and assess all the rooms, what kind of furniture they have, if there are decorations, and how many people live in the home. They will also look at whether the house is a duplex or not, and check that information online.
They will calculate how expensively the owner has kept the house by looking at documents and pictures, as well as doing some research and talking to other owners in the area. All this information is put together to get an accurate price for the house.
This article will discuss why real estate agents do not perform appraisals and what alternatives you have when buying or selling a house.
Who does a property valuation
While it may sound like a simple question, finding an appropriate valuer can be tricky. There are many ways to do this within real estate, but not all agents have access to every one of them!
As a seller’s agent, I sometimes get asked who should perform my property valuations. It is important to know that most states require you as a seller’t agent to conduct your own property valuations, so I would recommend doing this unless you feel that you cannot!
It is also important to note that while some state laws require you to have your home valued by someone with certification, they don’t actually specify which certification must be used. Some will even let anyone perform their calculations, making ‘certified’ or ‘not certified’ no longer a factor in determining quality.
What is an effective marketing strategy
As noted before, creating your business plan is the first step towards success in any field. Marketing is no different! Starting from the basics, like defining your market and what you will offer to customers, determining your sales funnel, and figuring out who your target audience is, all of these things apply when investing in real estate.
One of the most important parts of starting your business is having a good understanding of how much value you provide to others. This is referred to as doing a valuation or pre-sale inspection. A professional property valuer comes to the house with you, checks it out, and gives you a very detailed report about the home’s current worth.
This is similar to what many professionals do after selling their own homes – they take themselves off the buying list so that they don’t influence their own sale. It is also done for sellers because it ensures they get the best possible price for their home. This is not only helpful for them, but it can help motivate owners who want to sell their houses as well!
Real estate agents typically do at least one formal pre-listing appraisal every month. After all, why would someone pay top dollar for a house if they didn’t think it was worth it? But what if everyone else is asking too high a price? You have to make decisions based on whether or not you believe the market values are fair, which can be tricky.
How to choose the right agent
As mentioned before, not all agents do valuations! This is something that should be made very clear from the start as it can save you a lot of money in potential fees.
Agent assessments vary quite a bit depending on what type of property they are selling and who their target market is. Some may even drop the price of the house by doing this, which is great if you know about the value of your home!
But for buying a new home, having an independent valuation done will ensure everything is accurate and honest.
It’s important to check out how long the agent has been working in real estate and whether they have any complaints or warnings against them.
What is the best time to valuation
It’s very difficult to define what constitutes as the “best time” to do a property valuation, but most experts agree that it’s when you can get the most accurate information. You may be able to get an estimate from someone else doing similar work or by looking up comparable sales in the market – although they must be close in time to when you are trying to buy!
By this I mean if you are buying a house at the end of January then your estimates will not be totally reliable because sellers won’t lower their price until closer to March/April. So your numbers might be slightly off due to timing issues.
Likewise, if you are selling a house now then May-June is probably your best chance for getting a solid number. The reason being is that people who want to purchase a home have already done research and know about properties like yours so they have a better idea of how much they should pay for them than those who are just starting out.
On top of that, some houses take longer to sell than others so your window of opportunity could be even shorter depending on how competitive the area is.
Sample valuations
A recent article discussed how to do your own property valuation, which is great if you have plenty of time to invest in this area. But for most people, doing their own valuation is not a good idea unless they are experienced in property investing or selling!
Property values fluctuate so much over such short periods of time that it is difficult to get an accurate picture of what yours is actually worth. By having someone who knows about properties conduct a valuation for you, you can be sure that your property is being valued correctly!
That person should preferably be working within the same industry as you, and using similar methods to determine value. They may even find additional information about your home that will help give it a more realistic market price.
A professional real estate agent or broker can also save you money by identifying homes with potential investment opportunities that match your goals.
What is a market rent
When it comes to valuing your home, there are two types of valuation you will need to do. The first is a current value which is also referred to as an accurate sales price or ASPS. This is when assessors look at all similar homes in the area and find a average selling price to determine what yours should be set at.
The second type of valuation is called a market rent. A market rent is determined by looking at how much money a house would make in rents only, not factoring in any other costs associated with owning a property suchas mortgage payments and/or agent’s fees.
A market rental can be calculated using either income approach or cost approach. With the income approach, like we discussed before, we calculate what your house could earn per year in rentals and then compare that to the amount you pay for utilities and agents’ fees each month.
With the cost approach, we factor in the down payment, monthly payments and agents’ fees onto a rented property and divide that by the number of years it would take to recoup those expenses.
How to choose a property
When buying or selling a house, one of the most important things is determining how much your agent does valuations. This person will look at the house you want to buy and determine what price it is worth.
Most agents have access to software that can help them do this quickly and accurately. Before agreeing to work with an agent, make sure they use reliable tools to give you an accurate valuation.
You should also ask about their method for calculating prices as well as questions related to incentives like down payments or mortgages.
It’s very common for agents to add marketing costs to their valuation, but these should be included in the sale price only. Buying a house includes other expenses suchas moving fees, so these should be factored out separately.
When doing research, don’t just focus on whether the agent adds value-assess why they may not include some items. For example, if the agent doesn’t include water bills in their calculations, find out why!
Properly documenting and confirming the cost of items can sometimes back up those reasons, which is another reason to check into the validity of the assessment.
What should you look for in a property
As mentioned earlier, valuing a house can be tricky as there are so many factors to take into consideration. One of the most important things to do is assess whether or not the person doing the valuation is registered with Realty Institute Australia (the body that registers real estate agents).
If they are then this article has been saved you!
Registered agencies must undergo rigorous training which includes accounting for all buildings and structures, how to value land, how to determine if the title is clear and much more.
This helps ensure that your agent knows what tools they have access to when calculating a price estimate. It also means that their estimates will be more accurate as they have gone through some formal education.
However, it is important to remember that no two markets are the same, even within the same city. Property values fluctuate constantly due to a variety of reasons, so it is impossible to say what an average cost is unless you have a sample size.
