Comparative Market Analysis or CMA

What is a CMA?

A Comparative Market Analysis, or CMA, is a thorough analysis that evaluates current market trends to determine your home’s value.

Rather than producing a computer-generated number, at Liz Moore and Associates we have designed a 10 step pricing methodology to determine a home’s market value.  Put simply, market value is what a buyer is willing to pay and what a lender is willing to lend – whichever is lower.  So it’s important to analyze value from all aspects, not just from one point of view:

1. Odds of Selling – Analyzing statistics including months’ supply of inventory, absorption rates, and where to position your home to be the best value in its category.
2. Create a Positioning Strategy – Putting on a buyers’ hat, compare listings in direct competition with yours.  Keep in mind that not all competition is comparable!
3.  Identify Target Buyer Profiles – Who will be buying your home?  A military family?  A retired couple?
4. Adjustments – Comparing your home to others by highlighting the best features and weighing the challenges.
5. Will it Appraise? – Appraisers approach value much differently than buyers.  Buyers are looking at current/active listings while appraisers focus on homes that have sold in the past 3-6 months.  This is an important step, since this will affect how much a lender is willing to lend to the buyer.
6. Condition Assessment – Determining property condition and how move-in ready it is.  If needed, consider painting, repairs, or updating.
7. Staging Consultation – Recent trends have suggested that staged homes sell faster and for money.
8. Benchmarking Assessed Value – Comparing tax assessments for neighborhood appreciation or depreciation trends and ratios of sold prices to assessed value.
9. Benchmarking Price per Square Foot – How does the price per square foot compare to other active listings?
10. Forecasting – Continuing to study our dynamic market to stay updated with changes and how it affects current value.

Hampton Roads Real-e-statement is written by Alyssa Godwin, a Realtor with Liz Moore and Associates. For questions regarding buying or selling contact Alyssa at 757-329-6161 or alyssagodwin@lizmoore.com. You can also find Alyssa on Facebook or on the web at www.lizmoore.com/alyssagodwin.