Market Value
When trying to determine the market value of your home, there are several factors that must be taken into consideration. First and foremost, we have just come out of an unprecidented boom in real estate prices in the Bay Area, the likes of which we will probably never see again. Not long ago, sellers could list their property for almost any price they wanted to and still get multiple offers! Well Im sorry to say it, but those days are gone. Sellers have to be very realistic in the current market, they must realize that there is a tremendous number of homes on the market right now which means buyers have more choices and more leverage.
No matter what figure you come up with for the value of your home, if that value is not supported by recent sales in your neighborhood of homes that are comparable to yours, chances are you are going to overprice your home. Overpricing property in this market is the worst thing you can do, because unless your home is extremely unique then as long as it's overpriced it will be sitting on the market. These days the best strategy is to get the property into as best showing conditon as possible and price it slightly BELOW market value in order to create interest and hopefully attract multiple offers. There are many online companies that claim to provide you with the value of your home, however these companies can only give you a ballpark value because they simply dont have enough information about your property. Most of them simply ask for your address and use a computer to try to calculate a value. There is no way for them to know if you just remodeled the entire house, added an extra room, or on the other hand what if theres 40 years of deferred maintenance? That surely would affect the value wouldn't it? We all know that updates can drastically affect the value of a home, so whether or not your home has updates will play a significant role in determining your price.
The best way to come up with a selling price for your home is to work with a competent Realtor who can research recent sales in your area, and then compare your home to those that have recently sold and make adjustments for updates, square footage, lot size, and other differences. Another factor to consider when pricing your home is pest/dryrot/fungus problems that your home may have. Most of the homes in Oakland, Berkeley, Piedmont, Alameda, San Leandro and surrounding areas are over 50 years old and are going to have at least some damage from pests, dryrot and/or fungus rot. It is recommended that a pest inspection be completed before your home goes on the market, so you will know how much your value will be affected by it.