"Bryan was instrumental in saving me thousands of dollars. I let my first agent sit on my home for 6 months without any results. After Bryan consulted with me on what I should do in a down market, my home sold for full asking price in less than 30 days! I'm convinced if it wasn't for his advice I would still be trying to sell my home.” Steve D.Home Seller Trabuco Canyon, CA Flat Fee Real Estate &
Flat Fee MLS Listing
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A lot goes into developing an accurate opinion of the price a property should sell for. Relying on a real estate agent’s off-the-cuff guesstimate or computer models and algorithms is simply not an effective way of doing it.
Any professional real estate appraiser will tell you, to define an accurate opinion of value, you must take into consideration all of the numerous variables existing in the marketplace.
Most real estate agents simply do not invest the time and research to develop a truly refined opinion of price for their clients. Many of them don’t even know how. The sad fact of the real estate business is that traditional agents invest most of their time prospecting for new clients, not interpreting the market.
A company like Zillow attracts people to their website for its novelty. Their automated opinion of your home’s market value (a “zestimate”) is simply a way to create a unique, interactive, online experience to drive traffic to their site. They earn money in ad placement, not valuation.
Although Zillow does use real sale price data from assessor records, it does not know the all of the details and compensating factors that may have been associated with each transaction. Nor does the value take into consideration the competitive listing activity in your area. Generally speaking, your “zestimate” can be way off the mark.
Some financial institutions will utilize an Automated Valuation Model (AVM) to cut costs in certain transactions, but only when there appears to be a significant amount of equity already established in the property. The major lending institutions almost always rely on real estate appraisals and broker price opinions when they need to establish an accurate opinion of value for purchase and refinance lending, or a price for REO marketing.
A true picture of a home’s value and marketability can only be accomplished with in depth research of the comparable sales data, listing activity, and an understanding of the current market trends.
ListingPoint emphasizes the importance of this research to each of our clients by including a Broker Price Opinion (BPO) in our flat fee ListingPoint Premier and Enhanced Super FSBO listing packages.
The foundation for a successful real estate transaction is in reconciling all of the complex market data to establish an effective listing price that will maximize your profits and minimize your headaches.
When it comes to buying or selling real estate, knowing your market is the name of the game. Combine that with a low flat fee real estate model, and you've got a winning strategy for success.
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