Many times I hear this from customers who want to list their home. “…I just had an appraisal, and it was…”
Why doesn’t that make a difference about what the house is ‘worth’? Because we don’t know what your house is worth….what determines worth is what a buyer is willing to bring to the table after your home has been suitably exposed to the marketplace.
This means that you must put the property into the MLS at a good comparative price based on an expert Realtor® opinion, make sure the MLS information is correct, and qualify each and every buyer that comes through the door. The Realtor® opinion is based on what experience and knowledge of the marketplace, what buyers are looking for and the current market mood and conditions.
Even though it is a fact that appraisers will use the same data to come up with a value for the property, that value is based on an “intended user, intended use” theory. It means that most likely you had the appraisal done for the purposes of a refinance or an estate evaluation. The “intended user” was the bank or the estate planner. The “intended use” was for allowing for a distribution of funds to the interested parties.
When an appraisal is done after a buyer is procured and an offer has been accepted, now the use is for substantiation of a purchase offer, and the user is the lender who is lending money for the loan. The market value has generally been determined by the willing buyer/willing seller.
So – when you are going to market your home for sale – the market value is where the buyers find it to be.
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