Brandon Nelson

What’s a “Comparative Market Analysis?”

A Comparative Market Analysis – or CMA – is a report Realtors put together that objectively and subjectively compares your home to other “like homes” that have sold in the “relevant past” and then uses that information to best determine your home’s probable price point. I do a CMA anytime I’m called to list a property. I also do CMA’s sometimes just to help a client or friend get a firm grasp on what their property is worth, such as if they’re thinking of refinancing.

Every agent performs a CMA differently. If there is a “best” way, it’s whatever most accurately determines the price it will sell at. If a crystal ball worked, believe me that’s what I’d use.

But like most of real estate sales, it’s a process. Here’s an overview of how I  TYPICALLY do a CMA: 

I begin the process by visiting your house and making a lot of notes about its material make-up and condition. I “experience” it emotionally, as close as I can match what other agents and buyers will be doing and feeling. I might take some photographs. I might ask you some questions. I might stick my head in the crawl space. It’s not a standarized formula. Instead, I let the house lead me.

With that information logged, I head back to the office and continue my market research by looking at three broad categories:

• Homes of a similar size and character, with similar features;
• Homes in the general neighborhood or area of the your home;
• Homes in the general price range of where I believe your home will fall, and/or where you have told me you hope to see your home fall.

This objective data is checked against graphs of market performance, market history, and trends, all of which I will ultimately share with you and explain during a 2nd visit together.

The data I collect is also — and really most importantly — plugged into my built-in real estate “algorithm.” This is the “can’t be faked” compilation of my own ongoing experience and involvement in the market as a Realtor. Sometimes the data says $250K on paper, but you and I both know it’s in the low $300s for one reason or another. I once heard someone describe it as “A little bit of logic and a little bit of magic.” That’s about as good a way of articulating it as I’ve heard.

Granted, then, a CMA is not an exact science. But with a careful analysis of your home and the market it will be positioned in, we can, with reasonable accuracy, establish its price so you can begin to plan for your future. Ultimately, however, a home’s price can be determined only by the buyer who is willing to buy it.

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Tags: bellingham CMA, Bellingham real estate blog, Bellingham REMAX, Brandon Nelson

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