If you’re planning on putting your home on the market, determining your asking price is one of the most important decisions you will make. So how do you go about determining a fair price?

STEP 1: LOOK AT YOUR MOST RECENT PROPERTY TAX BILL

The first step is to calculate the Fair Market Value of your home.  This can be calculated using the property’s Tax Assessed Value and its Assessment Rate that you can find in the Property Tax Bill.  For example, if your property’s Tax Assessed Value is $80,000 and the Assessment Rate is 80%, then your home’s Fair Market Value would be $100,000.

STEP 2: ASK YOUR REAL ESTATE AGENT FOR A COMPARISON MARKET ANALYSIS

The Comparison Market Analysis (CMA) is a detailed report showing the value of your home compared to similar listings.  The CMA report does the following:

• Allows you to define criteria for selecting comparable homes
• Collects a list of comparable homes that meets your criteria
• Evaluates these comparables and selects 3-5 homes that are similar to your selling home
• Calculates the average value of the comparable to get a estimate price for your selling home

STEP 3: HIRE AN APPRAISER

A real estate agent can assess the future value of your home, but an appraiser looks at the past value by reviewing closed or pending sales rather than the asking price of homes that are still on the market.