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Is there a way to tell what the market is like where we live?
We plan on putting our house up for sale in the spring. I've looked at lots of real estate websites to see what our competition will be. I was surprised to not find many houses on the market that seem comparable. What we currently own would be considered a starter house so by no means anything that is so unique that there isn't anything around. We have fixed up the house since we bought it. Siding, roof, windows, doors, plus inside stuff. We've been here almost 10 years and it was a pre foreclosure when we bought it.
Without seeing much to compare our house to I wonder if the area we live in is turning around as far as selling goes?
Our plan was to look for a realtor after the holidays.
You could begin interviewing Realtors now. That gives you plenty of time to choose. Some of the agents will have a good handle on the market, and some won't. After talking to a few you'll be able to determine who the good ones are.
Captain Bill's suggestion is excellent. The fact is that there are some agents that are much more effective that others and often that effectiveness is driven by the ability of some agents to fully utilize the data that they can extract from the various systems that are designed to help real estate sales.
When interviewing agents it should quickly become apparent that some agents are barely part timers -- they likely will not have any detailed analysis of WHY the trends in prices or time-on-market are headed in the direction shown by the raw numbers. In contrast the BEST agents will be able to give detailed information AND back up those details with specific examples of WHERE your home will fall in the range of desirability / value. Even in towns with a glut of unsold homes and poor overall economic conditions a skilled agent ought to be able to suggest a pricing strategy and marketing approach that has the greatest probability of fetching the best price in the shortest time frame.
Ideally the interviews will reveal that there have been other homes like yours that have sold for a fair price in a reasonable amount of time because that makes the whole process of listing / selling/ appraising / closing go MUCH more smoothly BUT in the event that few homes that compare well to yours have come on the market then a skilled real estate agent is even MORE essential because your listing agent will have to have the experience to integrate the existing data with their own wisdom of how each of the positives AND negatives of your home is likely to impact the proper listing price AND be supportable by data needed when the buyer's lender orders an appraisal.
Odds are that the market may move a bit in the spring BUT the sorts of DETAIL that you get from potential agents NOW will probably be enough to decide which gal or guy will do the best for you. I would suggest that you also ask EACH agent for a "top 5 and bottom 5" list of things that you should emphasize as positives of your updated home / think about fixing up further before you list. Some of the suggestions may be worth doing AND the suggestions themselves will give you insight into how "tuned in" to the wants / needs of buyers each agent is as well as the sensitivity to what the cost / impact of some upgrades might be to your bottom-line as a seller. Even if you have positive equity (which ought to be the case having been in the home for 10 years, but depending on how much you've already spent on upgrades...) your listing agent should ALWAYS be cognizant of not just maximum selling price BUT maximizing the NET return to you!
Spring is more than 6 months into the future. A lot can happen between now and then.
There are many who believe that if the guy they are voting for ( does not matter which guy) does not win, the recovery of the housing market will be protracted.
( My own crystal ball says it's going to be protracted in many areas, regardless of who wins the election.)
I've looked on Zillow and it shows some previous sales. Is Zillow accurate for that?
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