Comparative Market Analysis

Paramount to all of the meaningful counsel that your sales associate will provide to you is the setting of a price for your property. To do this thoughtfully, a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) will be prepared for you, which will take into account a number of factors:

• Recently sold properties in your area, including pricing and the length of time they were on the market

• Current listings that are competitive to your property, and what advantages/disadvantages they may have

• Pricing trends — an analysis of price adjustment activity on both current listings and recent sales

• Key attributes of your property, such as square footage, lot size, special features, and overall condition

By analyzing the current state of the market, and how your property measures against it, a fair and realistic price can be determined that will garner the highest reasonable price in an efficient period of time. When developing a pricing strategy, it is important to be mindful that overpricing a property can be a serious misstep. If a property is perceived by the market as being unrealistically priced, it will likely sit for a long period of time with little to no activity. Eventually, in order to create a renewed sense of interest, the price will need to be adjusted down — often below the level where initial interest would have been greatest. Careful market analysis helps to avoid such pricing pitfalls and facilitates the efficient marketing of your property.

Your sales associate will also keep you informed of market conditions once your property is listed, helping you to keep current with any fluctuations and changes.