How to Find Comps for Your House?

If you want to sell your house, pricing your property right is crucial to get its best selling value. Setting up a valuable sale price for your home is not a game of eeny, meeni, miny, moe. It requires an intensive and deliberate market study to come up with the latest and most competitive rate for your property.

With this, you have to start studying and finding comps for your house.

Comps? What’s that?

Comps, short for housing “comparables” identify your house competitive price based on similar houses that have been sold in a certain time frame.

Both home sellers and home buyers use comps to determine the quantifiable buy and sale prices of properties. But for a home seller like you, it’s useful especially in avoiding home pricing mistakes. Moreover, it prepares your house prior to putting it on the market by providing you with solid price tag.

Read: 6 Common Home Pricing Mistakes Home Sellers Should Avoid 

3 Qualities of Real Estate Comps

 To find the best comps for your house, these three qualities should be observed.

Understand the Basics of Comps for Your House we buy houses1. Recent

Market factors change and home values can either rise or fall. Houses sold two years ago are irrelevant in today’s real estate market. So check only for the recent comparables. The more recent your comps are the better.

Understand the Basics of Comps for Your House we buy houses2. Comparable

Come up with the best price for your house by comparing it with similar properties. If you are selling a one-storey house, find a one-storey house nearby to get a decent selling price.

There are several comparison points and parameters to consider in getting ideas of your house’s worth, which we will discuss later in this post.

Understand the Basics of Comps for Your House 3. Local

House prices vary by location so your comps must be in the same locality of your house for sale. The closer it is the better.

Parameters in Finding the Right Comps for Your House

You don’t just find houses and compare. It’s necessary to select comps similar to your property. We’ve listed here 5 parameters to keep an eye to in finding the right comps for your house.

Understand the Basics of Comps for Your House 1. Location

Choose a comp that is within your area. As suggested by John Lyons, realtor at Baird & Warner in Chicago real estate, houses located within the half-mile radius of your property are ideal comps.

Understand the Basics of Comps for Your House 2. Size

If your house is 10, 000 square feet, then ideally, you should find properties lingering around 10,000 square feet.

Understand the Basics of Comps for Your House 3. Number of Rooms

Utilities better gauge the comparability of two properties according to Christine Luz, Director of Kinzie Brokerage.

This may contradict to the above parameters but the bath and bedroom count should be similar for two different properties to be it considered comparable.

Understand the Basics of Comps for Your House WE BUY HOUSES4. View, Style, and Other Details

Units with similar utilities, high rise, and size, but with different views are not comparables. Although they have commonalities, the view should be a consideration.

For an instance, if your house is overseeing a lake view, make sure to compare it with houses with lake views, too.

Understand the Basics of Comps for Your House 5. Recent Sales Price

Housing prices change rapidly so your comps should be properties sold recently, around six to 12 months ago.

Where to Find Comps for your House?

There are different ways to find comps for your house and they can be done with the help of the following:

Understand the Basics of Comps for Your House we buy houses1. Real Estate Agents

Professional real estate agents have been the go-to sources of real estate comps because they have access to the database of houses for sale and sold in the neighborhood. This database is called the Multiple Listing Service or MLS, which can provide accurate details of your home’s worth.

The comparative market analysis is free for both clients and non-clients.

Understand the Basics of Comps for Your House we buy houses2. Real Estate Websites

If you can’t find a licensed realtor nearby, find comps for your house through real estate websites like Trulia, Redfin, and Realtor.

Since property transactions are public records, these websites provide accurate and up-to-date home comparables for most estate based on sales filed with county clerks.

Browse through the website of your choice, enter your address and review sale prices of properties almost similar to yours. Don’t forget to consider the parameters we just have mentioned above.

Understand the Basics of Comps for Your House we buy houses3. Neighborhood

You can also check houses for sale in the neighborhood. Online listing and classified ads can provide you with lists of the house for sale nearby. Attend open houses or schedule listings to assess the house’s comparability to yours.

Aside from the mentioned parameters in finding the right comps for your house, factors such as noise, accessibility to local businesses and transports, and landscaping should be taken into account.

Once you have identified your house’s value through finding comps for your house, you can now put it on sale and start marketing your property.

Read: 12 Ways to Market Your House for a Quick Sale

If you want to sell your house fast then deal with investors or cash home buyers, who buy real estate as is.

The Home Buyers is a leading real estate investor in the United States. We buy houses for cash and offer a competitive selling price for your property.

We don’t want to prolong your waiting. Let us buy your house for cash and close the deal in just a week.

Feel free to contact us today to receive your free quote.