Setting Your Home's Price
Comparative Market Analysis
Pricing your home properly from the beginning is an important factor in determining how long it will take to sell your home and key to ensure maximum market exposure.
An impartial evaluation of market activity is the most effective way to estimate a property’s potential selling price. A Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) determines Fair Market Value (FMV) & considers similar properties that:
What a Comparative Market Analysis Considers
- Have sold in the recent past or are under contract: This shows me what buyers in this market have actually paid for properties similar to yours, or the asking price of properties successfully under contract. Also, this helps me gauge how much lending institutions will be willing to finance for your property.
- Are currently on the market: These are properties that will be competing with yours for the attention of available buyers. We will see exactly what alternatives a buyer will have to purchasing your home. We can make certain that we are not overpricing or underpricing your property.
- Factors that have little to no influence on a home's market value: The price the seller originally paid for the property. The seller’s expected net proceeds or the dollar amount spent on improvements.
When Evaluating Comparable Properties, I Use the Following Criteria
- Properties active, under contract, or sold within 6 months.
- Properties in the same or similar neighborhoods.
- Properties +/- 10% of your square footage.
- Properties with like attributes: # of stories, # of garage spaces, with or without pool, etc…
- Properties in similar condition.
- Remove Foreclosures & Short Sales.
What Fair Market Value Actually Means
Fair Market Value is the price a willing buyer would pay and a willing seller would accept, with both acting freely and with reasonable knowledge of the property and the market. It is set by what buyers are paying right now — not by what a seller hopes to net, and not by what the county has on file.
Three numbers get treated as interchangeable, and they are not:
- Fair Market Value: what buyers in this market will pay for your home today. This is what a CMA establishes and what your asking price should be built on.
- Appraised value: an appraiser's opinion, ordered by the buyer's lender to decide how much it will finance. It can come in above or below your contract price.
- Assessed value: the county's figure for property tax purposes. In Horry County this is a percentage of appraised value, not market value, so it is usually far lower and should never be used to set a price.
How Home Price Impacts the Number of Potential Buyers
Be Careful of Agents Who Overprice to Win Your Listing
Every seller wants to hear a big number, and some agents know it. They will quote a price the market will not support, simply to be the one who gets hired. The industry has a name for it: buying the listing.
What follows is predictable. The home goes on the market at a price no buyer will meet, so showings are slow. Days on market accumulate, and buyers who see a listing sitting assume something is wrong with the property. Then come the price reductions. By the time the price reaches what the market would have paid in the first week, the listing has lost the attention that only a fresh listing gets.
Homes that start overpriced typically sell for less than they would have if priced accurately from the beginning — and they take longer to do it. Meanwhile the seller carries the mortgage, taxes, insurance and utilities for every additional month.
I would rather give you an honest number and be hired for the right reasons.
Let Me Be Your Guide
Selling in Myrtle Beach is rarely one story. You might have outgrown a starter home and be ready to move up. You might be trading yard work for a low-maintenance condo. Or you might be ready to let go of the beach place you bought a few years back.
Each of those is a different sale, with its own timeline and its own definition of a good outcome. Pricing that ignores which one you are in is guesswork.
Whatever brought you here, the person you meet is the person who handles your sale. No team. No assistants. No handoff to someone you have never met. In 12 years I have personally sold more than 360 homes, and I have never passed one off.
You will know when yours is shown and what buyers said about it. You will get an honest number, even when a higher one would be easier to say. And you will hear from me long before there is an offer to discuss.
Let me be your guide to selling your home in Myrtle Beach. My Selling page goes into greater detail about how I get you the highest possible price.
Frequently Asked Questions About Pricing Your Home
What is a Comparative Market Analysis?
A Comparative Market Analysis, or CMA, is an impartial evaluation of market activity used to determine Fair Market Value. It looks at similar properties that have recently sold, that are under contract, and that are currently competing with yours for buyers.
Which properties are used as comparables?
Properties active, under contract or sold within the past six months, in the same or similar neighborhoods, within about 10% of your square footage, with like attributes such as number of stories, garage spaces and whether there is a pool, and in similar condition. Foreclosures and short sales are removed.
Does what I paid for my home affect its value?
No. The price a seller originally paid, the net proceeds a seller expects, and the amount spent on improvements all have little to no influence on market value. Only what buyers are currently paying for comparable properties does.
What is Fair Market Value?
Fair Market Value is the price a willing buyer would pay and a willing seller would accept, with both acting freely and with reasonable knowledge of the property and the market. It reflects what buyers are paying now, not what a seller hopes to net.
Is my tax assessed value the same as my home's market value?
No. Assessed value is the county's figure for property tax purposes and in Horry County it is a percentage of appraised value rather than market value, so it is usually far lower. It should never be used to set an asking price.
Why does pricing correctly from the start matter?
The asking price is a key factor in how long a home takes to sell and how much market exposure it receives. Pricing accurately from the beginning reaches the largest pool of potential buyers, while overpricing narrows it.
Why would one agent suggest a much higher price than another?
Some agents quote a price above what the market supports in order to win the listing, a practice known in the industry as buying the listing. The home then sits, accumulates days on market, and goes through price reductions. Homes that start overpriced typically sell for less than they would have if priced accurately from the beginning, and take longer to sell.
What happens if my home is overpriced?
Showings are slow because buyers will not meet the price. As days on market accumulate, buyers begin to assume something is wrong with the property. Price reductions follow, and by then the listing has lost the attention a fresh listing receives, so it usually sells for less than an accurately priced home would have.
Do improvements I have made increase my asking price?
Not directly. The dollar amount spent on improvements is not what sets market value, though improvements can affect how your home compares in condition against similar properties.
Let's work together.
Ready to discuss what your Myrtle Beach home should be listed for? Ashley DeLong can walk you through the comparables and the pricing strategy for your specific property.
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