Selling an apartment always starts with determining its value. What price to indicate in order to interest a potential buyer, but also not to miscalculate yourself? Too high a price will scare away the client, and the sales process will drag on indefinitely. An undervalued price is a loss of the owner’s funds. There are several ways to evaluate an apartment:
- An independent appraiser.
- A realtor, self-valuation.
- Online property valuation.
Apartment valuation methods
The specialist of the valuation company will very accurately determine the cost of the apartment and issue an official report However, this document will not be a weighty argument in the bargaining process, since the buyer trusts his own opinion more than the appraiser’s report. The cost of an independent valuation of a typical apartment is from 2,000 pounds. The evaluation period is 1-2 business days, plus the time spent on a meeting with a specialist.
Realtor is a specialist in real estate transactions. Cooperation with a realtor consists of several stages:
- A contract for the provision of services is concluded with a realtor.
- The cost of the apartment is determined.
- The realtor places ads, looks for buyers, conducts impressions, at the same time helps to prepare a package of documents.
- Organizes the deal and settlements on it.
An experienced realtor, as a rule, is able to quickly and accurately estimate the cost of an apartment after inspection. However, there is always the risk of working with an unscrupulous real estate agent. A realtor can overstate the value of an apartment in order to receive higher commissions, or collude with the side of the buyer and understate the value of the property, of course, for a certain fee. That is why you need to work only with trusted agents. But what if the question of selling an apartment comes up for the first time? In this case, you should check the cost of the apartment yourself.
Self-assessment of an apartment involves searching for advertisements for the sale of similar or similar apartments and determining the average cost. Of the advantages of this method: minimal cash costs. Of the minuses: it takes a lot of time to compile a sufficiently large sample, besides, the error in determining the value will be high due to the lack of valuation experience and the owner’s subjective attitude to the valuation object.
An option for self-assessment of an apartment can be the use of online real estate valuation tools. When you enter the query “evaluate an apartment online” in the search engine, the results will primarily include sites of real estate agencies and valuation companies. Some sites offer a quick assessment after entering the minimum number of parameters, others will require more detailed characteristics and contact information. In any case, you need to understand that the online assessment tools offered by real estate and valuation companies are designed primarily to attract customers. Therefore, the question of the objectivity of such an assessment remains open.
Independent online assessment
An independent online assessment is essentially a variant of contacting valuation Company, but by automating the process, money and time are significantly saved. A well-developed tool is the Black Stone Estate Agents property valuation tool, designed for professional real estate appraisers. After entering a number of parameters, the service selects analogue objects, using the information from the largest Internet portals with advertisements for the purchase/sale of real estate. As a result, the system generates a report with detailed information about the selected analogs, links, and screenshots of ads, which allows you to check the information yourself if you wish.
Check your realtor
The creators of the property valuation tool have developed an independent online valuation service for residential real estate called Check Your Realtor.
Who is the Check Your Realtor service for?
For individuals who want to get an independent valuation of an apartment with a minimum investment of time and money.
When will the Check Your Realtor service be useful?
- If during cooperation with a realtor you have doubts about his objectivity.
- If you are conducting a transaction yourself and want to conduct an independent assessment to justify the cost of selling or buying an apartment.
How much does the Check Your Realtor service cost?
The service conducts an independent valuation of the apartment for only 85 pounds.
How long does it take to appraise an apartment using the Check Your Realtor service?
It takes about 20 minutes to process the request.
How does it work?
After entering the parameters of the assessed object, the system selects analog objects using Internet resources with advertisements for the purchase and sale of residential real estate. It is important to note that the final cost is calculated not just as the average price of similar offers, but additional adjustments are made. The service determines the “cleared” cost of the apartment: the influence of parameters and factors by which the object of assessment differs from the found analogs is excluded. Optionally, you can order ringing ads to make sure they are up to date. As a result, the owner receives a professional independent assessment of his property at a minimum cost of funds and time. Additionally, you can request a list of documents required for the transaction and their templates. Thus, you can connect a realtor only at the stage of searching for clients,
Of course, there are some peculiarities when working with the service. For example, there is no way to check the ownership of the object, although this problem is partially solved by ringing ads. Also, there is no visit to the object, but this factor does not have a significant effect on the cost estimate. When visiting the object, the general condition of the apartment is usually assessed (requires major/cosmetic repairs, does not require repair).
Output
For an effective sale of an apartment, it is important to correctly assess its value. The most objective is an independent valuation of real estate, but the cost of a good appraiser is high.