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Comparable home sales<<>> Checking comparable home sales is what appraisers or Realtors will do to help determine what the value of your home is. The sales are checked using Multiple Listing service (MLS), public records. Most counties now offer some sort of public records information. Most information is free. However, I’m aware of some counties charging a monthly fee for this information. Smaller counties usually do not have an on-line database, but you may be able to purchase a CD with information that may help you.You can check comparable sales yourself if you understand how to select the best comparable sales for your home. Start with sites such as yahoo Real Estate, Zillow and other similar sites. These sites will allow you to see what is selling in your area. If you go to your counties GIS or assessor’s page, sometimes your counties will have a section with recent sales in your area. Public record information usually provided the most information. Many times you may be able to cross reference what you find in real estate sites and go back to public record to verify the information that you need. Checking comparable sales used to be a common practice for loan officers. They would contact several appraisers and ask the appraiser to help them find a range of comparable sales in the area so that they can look at the owner’s situation and determine of they will be able to write a loan for the home owner. New regulations have prevented contact with loan officers and appraisers and a third party is now in charge of ordering appraisals. This will prevent the loan officer and the appraiser from influencing the value. |