Don't Miss Out! Find Out What Your House is Actually Worth in 2022. You Might be Surprised!

Professional REALTORS® prepare a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) when listing properties for Sellers. Additionally, when a fully executed Buyer Representation Agreement is in place, we do this for Buyers in order to determine the estimated purchase price.   

A BPO is less expensive but less detailed than an appraisal prepared by a State Certified General Appraiser or State Licensed Residential Appraiser.    

The following disclosures will be included in all of our CMAs and BPOs as required by law:  

 “This represents an estimated sale price for this property. It is not the same as the opinion of value in an appraisal developed by a licensed appraiser under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.” ​      

Real estate license holders can offer an estimated sale price, listing price, or estimated worth.

BPOs and CMAs are not appraisals. Appraisals may only be completed by someone who is licensed or certified as an appraiser.  An appraisal usually runs around $400-$500.  

See more below. 

After we complete the BPO, if your property is exclusively listed for sale (without named buyer exclusions) within 21 days, the Fee will be refunded.   

Should you, as a buyer, enter into a written Buyer Representation Agreement with us, you will be reimbursed for the Fee when you purchase the evaluated property at Closing.

Do you need an appraisal or a Comparative Market Analysis when you are divorcing? 

What's the difference?

Right now, online home estimators are the rage. A home's value is estimated using algorithms, data from websites sites, and official records.   They are free to use. You just need to enter your house address in the search bar on the site, and you'll get an estimate immediately.   

Online estimators can only be accurate to a certain extent. Their results might be close to the market value or they might be way off!  

"Zestimates" might be a great starting point to get “in the range.”  

The accuracy of online housing data in larger cities tends to be higher. But if you have watched the news this past year, you will see how Zillow has gotten out of the home buying business since they were using the calculation to estimate the value of homes they were hoping to flip. 

Zillow lost more than $421,000,000 as the computerized "zestimate" are not as accurate as actually putting eyes on the property and taking a deep dive into what your home is actually worth compared to those true comps. For example, a home that is a few blocks over in a different neighborhood could be worth thousands less than your home even it is the same size because of the quality of materials, the size of the lot, or the school district it is zoned to.   

Opendoor complaints? Should I sell my house to Opendoor? 

A traditional realtor puts your house on the market and lets buyers bid on it, so it's possible you'll get less money for the house when you sell to an iBuyer instead.  

Additionally, you'll likely pay more in transaction costs than if you used a traditional realtor. Realtors charge about 6 percent, while iBuyers charge 7.5 percent or more. On their websites, the standard fee is listed as 7.5 percent, but the exact fee will be communicated to you during the process. According to their own website, it could be as high as 14%! 

An investigation by MarketWatch of multiple transactions involving iBuyers shows that their offers bring in 11% less revenue than those of owners who choose to sell their homes on the open market, translating into a loss of tens of thousands of dollars. 

Opendoor, reports massive losses as well! $662 million in 2021.  

 The Gifford Group can also help you buy before you sell.

Pricing should not be based on Zestimates.  

Despite the fact that these online calculators provide you with a value, don't consider them the end-all and be-all. Think of the values as a starting point. 

Current market metrics such as showing activity and the number of direct competitors (other current listings) are not taken into account by the Zestimate algorithm. 

Local professionals, The Gifford Group, do account for these important variables when determining list prices. Additionally, in today's market, it is common to set the list price at the low end of the market range in order to attract multiple buyers, who then bid against one another, ultimately establishing a value that is at the high end of the range or establishing a new range altogether.

There are other ibuyers out there that want to take advantage of your lack of knowledge of your home's true value and buy it from you and then turn around and sell it for top dollar

Get your free Comparative Market analysis done by a local expert. 

Looking to sell your home fasters and for more money?  

Read our blog post that features 9 Tips to sell your home faster.