A comparative market analysis, or
CMA, is a real estate agent's evaluation to determine the probable sale
price of a property in the current market. This analysis is based on
the most current local listing and sales data. Sellers can use a CMA
to help determine a list price. Buyers can use a CMA to help them decide
what to offer on a listing they want to buy.
The accuracy of the analysis will
depend in part on the quality of the data. The listings used for
comparison should ideally be located in the neighborhood, and they should
be as similar as possible to the subject property. In some cases
(e.g., similar homes in large tracts) this is straightforward. In
other cases -- unique locations or custom homes -- an accurate CMA
requires a great deal of REALTOR®
insight.
Lisa Hall will prepare for you a CMA
that includes information about currently available comparable listings,
pending sales, sales that occurred within the last 6 months, as well as
information about listings that did not sell during the listing period
(expired listings).
For sellers, the currently available
listings are your competition if your home goes on the market. How you
price your home relative to the competition is critical to the success of
your marketing efforts. Lisa Hall routinely previews houses on the market,
and can advise you as to how your home compares before you select a list
price.
Pending sale listings in your
neighborhood represent the most recent sales activity, although pending
transactions sometimes fail for a variety reasons. Beware of the
neighborhood rumor mill. A combination of wishful thinking and enthusiasm
can result in an inflated "price". The actual sale price may be quite a
bit lower. And, that price is rarely made public until the sale closes.
Expired listings usually bound the
high end of the market's price point. The most common reason why an
expired listing didn't sell during the listing period is that it was
priced too high for the market.
Any real estate agent's knowledge of
the local market can affect the accuracy of a CMA, particularly in a
neighborhood with a lot of variability in the housing stock. Unless the
agent has actually seen the comparable listings, he or she may not draw
the correct conclusions.
