I live in a development with 120 houses in about four models. I try to keep up on selling prices of any of them each year. Recent selling prices are the best indicator of value. But over time some add extras and some are better maintained. Some are on corners. Some back to major streets. Some have larger lots. Some have finished basements. Some have walk out basements.
Asking price has to consider all aspects.
Absolutely, which is why I keep a file on recent comps and often even go through the property either with our Realtor or an open house, noting special features that are not in the listing as well as any impressions. That said, specific features can be added in. For example the house we are looking at selling has an attached garage, which is unusual in our city. That doesn’t mean you only look for comps with an attached garage, but you add in the value of the garage or the fireplace, etc, on to or off of the comps that have extra features or missing some. And you are talking minor adjustments, whereas the difference in suggested list price is $135K! From a $/sq ft angle, the $560K price is merited for our area at about $230/SF. The $425K is below $175/SF. That’s a crazy difference. Plus the broker who gave me the low list price focused on irrelevant things like what we paid, what the tax assessment was, what was currently listed in the neighborhood, (properties I had been in and he had not, my having first hand knowledge that they were fixer uppers with water issues and in one case significant structural issues,) having missed many of the recent sales in presenting comps. My knowing what had sold in the neighborhood and for how much clued me in that he was needing to do more homework. He said he would go back and re-run the comps without the neighborhood name as a search item, since the listing agent of the recent sales may not have included that in their listing. I also clued him in that a Realtor that was popular in our area often pulled the listing as Off the Market when in reality it had sold. I got my sales numbers from public records for those properties.
It’s critical to be aware of what is going on in your area. Search engines will only find what you tell them to look for. Realtors are specialists on the general area, you have to be a specialist on your neighborhood.
IP