Find Out How Much Your Home is Worth

Are you curious how much your house might be worth right now… It might surprise you!

That being said, a house is worth what you or someone else willing to pay for it. That’s the simple answer. But if you want the longer answer, then you need to understand the housing market or consult a lender or an agent.

You can evaluate the value of a house via online tools or with the assistance of trained experts. This way you’ll know when to buy, sell, refinance, or even negotiate for reduced property taxes.

Now let’s look at the 4 methods of ascertaining the value of a house in detail.

Engage an Expert Appraiser

The simple method to figure the value of your house is to get an expert appraisal. You can achieve this by consulting or hiring an expert appraiser to give you the value of a house depending on your needs.

Appraisals play a key role, especially when it comes to getting a mortgage. Lenders always ask for home appraisals before approving a mortgage. However, if you’re the property owner, you can get an appraisal for your home anytime by hiring an expert appraiser who can assess your home.

Appraisers assess the current value of your house by checking various factors that affect the financial worth of a property. The factors include:

The market based on the location of your home (neighborhood, city, or region).
The features of the property such as improvement and the land it’s built on.
Similar properties on sale or that have recently sold.

The appraiser collects all this information and estimates the average value of your home in an official appraisal report.

Obtain a Competitive Market Analysis

When you need a deeper assessment of your home worth, you can opt for a Competitive Market Analysis or CMA. To get the CMA, consult your local real estate agent.

Although a CMA might not be as detailed as an expert appraisal, it still requires an expert to evaluate your house and market and provide you with an estimate of value.

Just like an appraisal, a CMA also depends on certain factors, including a market comparison, details of land and home, and comparable homes (sold or listed recently).

Any local real estate agent can provide you with a Competitive Market analysis. Some will offer it for free, while others might charge you a small fee.

Take Advantage of the House Price Index Calculator

Another quick way to estimate the worth of your home is online via the Federal Financing Agency (FHIFA) house price index (HPI) calculator, which uses a more scientific approach.

This online tool comes in handy if you want to get a clear picture of what your home might sell for and if you should sell it. The FHFA’s HPI account takes advantage of a method known as the repeat sales method to estimate a home’s worth.

This online tool is armed with over a million mortgage transactions and home sales gathered from 1970 to date. The tool tracks the change in the value of the houses from one sale to another.

The HPI calculator then uses the information to determine how much your house was valued at when it was previously sold and takes into account the current housing market.

Bear in mind the HPI calculator might have a few flaws. The information you might receive might not be the most accurate value of your house since this tool only looks at specific mortgages and fails to adjust for the infatuation.

However, it can provide you with a quick estimate within seconds and show you a trend in your property appreciation and value.

Obtain an Estimate Online

Today you can get anything online quickly and with ease. The same goes for estimating a home’s worth.

One online search can grant you access to over a dozen home value estimators and calculators. In fact, over 22% of American homeowners obtain their home value via these online estimator tools.

These online tools are commonly referred to as automated valuation models or AVM. They take advantage of public records such as tax assessment, property transfers, and deeds to predict the value of your home based on current sales and listing in your local area.

Also, they use mathematical modeling to determine estimates that are as accurate as possible based on the existing information.

You don’t have to go through many struggles to find an online calculator or AMV. Most real estate websites like Redfin and Zillow offer them.

But don’t be limited to only this option, you can opt for options such as FastHomeOffer.com, Homevestor.com, and WeBuyHouses.com.

Final Thoughts

Remember the value of home changes on a regularly basis. Today, it might increase and after a short period, it might decrease. All these depend on the various factors we’ve listed in the article.

If you’re planning to sell or refinance your home, then you need to stay updated on the various market changes. This way you can make an informed decision about your home’s value or worth.