What Your Home Is Worth
The number worth having comes after I see the house. You will get the automated estimate too.
You Can Have the Automated Number. I Will Send It to You.
It takes about four seconds, it is drawn from public records and recent sales near you, and it is the same thing every other site offers. It is a reasonable place to start.
It is also often wrong, and it is worth understanding why. It cannot see the house. It does not know what you did to the kitchen in 2019, or that the roof is three years old, or that the lot backs onto something a buyer will pay for or walk away from. It does not know which of the comparable sales was a tired version of your floor plan and which was the one everybody wanted.
So take the number, and treat it as a starting point. It is not a valuation, and nobody should make a decision this size on it.
Have me come and see it
Or call 714-319-9751. You can also read how I do it, step by step
And Then the Part That Needs Eyes On It
The industry generally runs the comparable sales and calls that a valuation. That is where mine starts, not where it ends. The comparable sales, what is active and what is pending, how long things are taking in your specific area, and how your home sits inside that rather than beside it.
That document is useful on its own. It is still not the best number I can give you, because the best number comes after I have walked through the house.
An hour in your home tells me things no database holds. What a buyer will notice first. What is worth doing before it goes on the market and, more often, what is not worth doing. Where your house genuinely stands against the three it will be compared to.
And the Number That Matters Is Not the List Price
What a home is worth and what you keep are two different figures, and only one of them describes your life after the sale.
Your net is the likely value range minus the mortgage payoff, selling costs, escrow and title, commissions, repairs and preparation, any credits you end up giving, the move itself, and what your next housing costs. That is the number worth working from.
Price is part of a strategy. It is not the strategy. How I work with sellers, and the method in full.
No Obligation, and I Mean It Plainly
Asking me what your house is worth does not commit you to selling it, to listing with me, or to anything else. Plenty of the people I do this for are a year or two away, and some decide to stay.
I would still rather come and see it. A number I can stand behind is worth more to you than a number I guessed at, and it is worth more to me than a lead I harvested.
I work across Orange County including Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and Irvine.
What This Is Not
A valuation is not an appraisal. An appraisal is a separate, licensed opinion, and a lender will order its own when there is a loan involved. What I give you is a broker's analysis, which is what prices a home and what a negotiation runs on.
This page describes how I generally work. It is not legal, tax or lending advice. I am a practicing California attorney, but when I am representing you I am acting as your real estate broker and not as your attorney.
Frequently Asked Questions
How accurate are online home value estimates?
They are a starting point, and I will send you one, but they are often wrong because they cannot see the house. An automated estimate works from public records and nearby sales. It does not know what you have done to the place, what condition it is in, or which of the comparable sales was the tired version of your floor plan and which was the one everybody wanted. On a decision this size, treat it as the beginning of a conversation rather than the answer.
Do I have to list with you to get a valuation?
No. Plenty of the people I do this for are a year or two from moving, and some of them decide to stay. Asking what your house is worth does not commit you to selling it or to working with me. I would rather give you a number I can stand behind and have you keep it in a drawer than hand you a guess.
What do you need to see when you come?
The house, and about an hour. I want to walk it the way a buyer will, see what they will notice first, and understand what is worth doing before it goes on the market and what is not. Bring any questions about timing, because what you are trying to accomplish changes what the number should be used for.
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