I want to sell my home! What’s it worth?

Determining the value of St. Louis Real Estate isn’t rocket science!

SillyO Unless of course you take the simplistic method and place your faith in a “web site mash up” that tries to do it from outer space!

In which case, you’ll probably wind up in the “expired listing” column, unhappy with your outcome, unable to move forward, and peaved at everyone but yourself.

If you don’t trust a professional realtor, that has access to neighborhood data via the MLS, to do an acceptable CMA for free, then pay for a professional appraisal. Find an appraiser that does appraisals for “mortgage lenders”. Why, because mortgage lenders won’t be making loans for over valued property, especially in todays environment.

Here is a first hand sad story about SillyO, a web mash up and a real unhappy seller. My comp’s said the property was 650,000 low end and maybe 700,000 plus in a good market with the house spiffed up. . .not upgraded. . .just top showing condition. . .even recommended a “staging company”. SillyO shot a 850,000 to 900,000 figure from outer space, and the seller wouldn’t relent. Seller wouldn’t do any spiffing either. Do I need to go on. Still on the market, 270 days later, still priced at 750,000, and could count the showings on one hand. In the meantime, ignore the buyer feedback, don’t get an appraisal and “keep on keeping on”.

But this isn’t a story about an unhappy seller, it’s really a story about “web mash ups” and the disservice that they provide to the already screwed up real estate market. I comped the home on all of the “mash ups” tonight and guess what. . .low value 900,000, high value 1,200,000.

Guess my seller should call on one of the “mash ups” and see if they’ll buy it.

Tags: St.+Louis+Real+Estate, Sellers, Appraisal+News, Expired+Listing, mash+ups

This entry was posted on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 6:33 pm and is filed under Appraisal News, For Sellers, Real Estate News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.