Are you trying to figure out what your home is worth but just can't get an accurate, bottom-line answer? In this video, I’m going to show you how to find out what your home is truly worth without depending on an online estimator. We’ll look at the numbers and discover how to make sure you don’t leave any money on the table when you sell your home.

What Is My Home Worth?

If you’re thinking about selling your home, you might have tried logging online using an automatic form to plug some numbers in and get an estimate of your property value. However, that number just won’t be accurate.  You see, your house actually has two different values.

The first value your home has is what somebody will pay for it. The second value is what it will appraise for, what it's going to look like on paper. The thing is that they're usually not the same amount. It’s also important to remember that your real estate agent doesn't create the price of your home—so don't shoot the messenger. To figure out how much your home is truly worth, you’ll need to understand a few things about the home valuation process.

The Appraisal

First, you need to know how an appraiser evaluates your house. What they're going to do is look on paper and compare it to other homes that have sold in the area for the past three to six months. The problem, though, is that if you rely on something that sold six months ago to get your valuation for today, you're going to leave some damn money on the table.

We saw a similar problem back in the crash of 2007. During that time, houses were appraising for more than what people were willing to pay for them at the time. The winning combination, then, is understanding what the market has done in the past few months as well as having a crystal clear understanding of what's happening right now.

Let me give you an example. About six months ago, I took a listing. When I met the sellers, we evaluated their home to be worth about $400,000. However, now that we're getting ready to go on the market, I redid all my homework and found that the house is actually worth about $430,000. And when we took it to the market, we even beat that price.

Market Trends

In a seller's market, home prices are trending up. Even though we see on paper that a house is worth about $430,000, we're probably going to end up selling it for over $450,000. This is why it's so important to understand all the current market trends when trying to figure out your value.

This is also another reason not to just depend on a number you can find online. Any valuation you find online is not taking into account how hot the market is and what's happening on a neighborhood level. That's why it's always so important to talk to your trusted real estate agent.

Talk With Your Agent

Lastly, online valuations don't take into account the condition or quality of items in your home. Your countertop may look much nicer than it does in any past pictures. This is another great reason to talk to a trusted real estate agent so you know what your home will realistically sell for.

The bottom line is that the best way to figure out what your home is worth is to take a look at the market history. You also have to have a crystal clear understanding of the current market activity and today's market. Many sellers are taking advantage of the current market’s great prices and can sell their homes for more than they've ever thought of.

So if that's something that you're considering, please reach out to me I would love to be your real estate resource. Don’t forget to also subscribe to my channel for more information on all things real estate. See you on the next episode!