Annual Home Sale Price Appreciation

Home prices continue to rise, but the pace of appreciation has slowed in southern California, except for San Bernardino where appreciation has continued to rise:

How is the commission part of the marketing of my home?

This is a question I never get asked outright, so I thought I'd ask it here. People don't often realize that the commission is actually part of the marketing strategy for their property. Aside for paying for service from your listing agent, the commission also goes to attracting more buyers' agents, each of whom may show your house to multiple sets of buyers. The more buyers who look at your house, the better the chance of getting multiple bids, and that's when your actual sale price goes over your list price.

If you need to sell fast and need to make as much as possible off the sale of your property, you may want to consider increasing the commission to outside broker rather than lowering the price. For instance, if your property is listed at 300k, instead of lowering it to 290k, you could increase the commision 1/5% and pay the buyer's agent $1500 more, which is considerably less than the 10k you wouldn't receive otherwise.

How much can I sell my home for?

This is a question I get asked a lot via email, so I thought I'd go ahead and answer it here. First off, don't use the average square footage value for your zip code or try to base a number on recent sales as reported in your local newspaper. The average square foot values will only give you an idea of the general trend for a large, geographical area. Also, I find many errors in newspaper accounts of recent sales as they often use title co. reports with old data (even for houses with permitted additions!) and rely on less than perfect data entry. You should request a comparative market analysis from a realtor who is a member of the multiple listing service for the area. A good comparative market analysis will give you the last 60 days of data for properties that are of a similar to your own (+/- 200 sq. ft. , +/- 10 years, similar bedroom and bathroom count, similar amenities, within about a 1-mile radius, etc.). Looking at how long such properties took to sell, if any expired without selling, and seeing how the current listings are priced will help you figure out where to set your own price.

I have started a new Ask Alma Real Estate Forum, where I post answers to common questions I receive via e-mail and I will answer real estate related questions. You are required to register.