valley mls market value research

Please see the listing agent’s response ;



Thank you for showing XXXXXXX to one of your clients.

I understand your concerns and will try to address them for you.

First, the square footage measurements were taken from the building plans for the house which is less than the home when the brick is added to the actual construction. This adds a small amount when the house is actually measured for an appraisal for example. The new measurement is the measurement of the actual structure.

This home is much superior to any comps in the subdivision. The sellers had an appraiser evaluate the house and indicated it would hold up very near the $xxxx per square foot. It is understood that any offer would be constrained by the appraisal being at least the sales price.

Relocation companies have changed the way they operate in the past year or so. They do not assume ownership of the property any longer. They let the owners negotiate the best deal they can and then present that contract to the Relo company.


Her explanation of the additional square footage does seem reasonable but if it is critical to you, we can pull a tape on the house.

I will ask to see the comparables that the seller’s appraiser used. My impression is that the listing agent is getting the information from seller and at this point I have my doubts about the quoted appraisal. Unless there were a refinance or seller wanted a price opinion there wouldn’t be a reason to pay an appraiser.

The appraisal could have been anything from a realtor fluffing numbers to try and get a listing to an appraiser trying to justify a refinance. Again we don’t want to roll the dice and expect the appraiser from your loan to cap the sales price. Appraisers start with the sales price and their goal is to justify that price.

Regarding the statement; This home is much superior to any comps in the subdivision.

The current owners bought the house from the builder xxxxfor $xxxx/ $xxx psf. The house was on market xx days. The builder was xxxxxxxx
http://nalmls.com/NALMLSReports/ListitLib/show_report.aspx?ID=717532894238583020932025

The following link is to a summary of Valley MLS sales data from xxxx to xxxxin the neighborhood of homes built by XXXXXX.

The subject property sold at $xxx/ $xx psf. in xx days. The average sold price was $xxxx psf with a range of $xxxpsf to $xxx psf. The average days on market were xx days with a range of 0 to xxx days.

http://nalmls.com/NALMLSReports/ListitLib/show_report.aspx?ID=855728477372924

While the subject home did sell a bit above the average sold price of $xxx psf at $xxx psf, it was below the highest sale of $xxx psf. At xxdays on market it did take longer than the average time to sell.

Just based on the sales data, I don’t see anything to indicate this home is head and shoulders above the rest of the neighborhood.

Looking closer at the original listing where the current owners bought the home I don’t see any indication that the home is superior to others in the neighborhood. If it was a former model home or the listing stated custom upgrades there might be case for it’s superiority but there is no indication that it is any different from other homes in the neighborhood.

http://nalmls.com/NALMLSReports/ListitLib/show_report.aspx?ID=7114889583459585

The link below is to the full Valley MLS listings of the contemporary sales of the original sale of this house. Again from the narratives and photos I don’t see where they are dissimilar from the subject home. I don’t see where the original listing commented on xxxx and there was only one photo on the listing of the front of the house. Even if the current owner xxxx the cost and value of that improvement is in the hundreds and not thousands of dollars.

http://nalmls.com/NALMLSReports/ListitLib/show_report.aspx?ID=77573649329483247

We will see if the seller does have a viable appraisal and comparable sales but any appraiser will look at the same data that we have. There are enough comparable sales in the neighborhood where an appraiser should not have to look outside the neighborhood for comparables.

Regarding the statement;

Relocation companies have changed the way they operate in the past year or so. They do not assume ownership of the property any longer. They let the owners negotiate the best deal they can and then present that contract to the Relo company.

While he is not stating that there will be a relocation company involved the short answer for him would have been to state that none was involved. I will get him to clarify.

In the last two relo sales I did this summer the relo company did take ownership. I have did have on transaction last fall where the relo company acted as a third party approving the deal negotiated by seller.

In summary; In the absence of data to the contrary I think the house is priced above what the market will bear. We can continue to dance with the listing agent but he is experienced and keeping his cards close to his vest. The only way we will really know what seller / the relocation company (if any) are willing to do is to tender an offer.

In drafting an offer my usual track is to set the sales price somewhere near the average sold price and ask for substantial seller contribution to your closing and pre-paid costs.

We would also ask for a home warranty and make the offer contingent on a home inspection and radon testing.

The owner may have a negative emotional response since this offer is under his list price. We would need to prepare the seller for our much lower offer by presenting the sales data above to the listing agent to see if the seller is willing to review the facts.

Given a relo company may be involved the seller my not have an emotional attachment. We can make educated, informed offers but experience has taught me that we never know what the other side is thinking.

On one hand, I have made what I thought were reasonable offers rejected harshly and the seller refused to consider subsequent offers. On the other hand I have had what I thought was very low offers happily accepted without question by sellers.

I will ping the listing agent with the data above and ask him to let us know if a relocation company is involved. Pending his answer please sleep on the data and then let me know your thoughts.

We are in a buyer’s market and you do have time. In my experience in working with buyers, the next house is always better than the one that got away.

I questioned the small change in square footage and that the price seems substantially above the comparable sales.

If the house does go to a relocation company hired by seller’s employer the relo company may lower the price to be in line with the comparables. It may be worth looking at the house and if it is still a candidate keep an eye on it.

I have a couple interested in XXXXXXX who have questions.The original listing and tax records show the house as XXXXsf where the current listing shows XXXXXXsf. Was there an error in what the builder listed on the original listing?

The link below is to a summary of all Valley MLS activity in the neighborhood since xxx The average sold price was $xx psf with a range of $xx to $xx psf.


My buyers are concerned that the list price of $xxxxx psf is substantially above the highest recent sale. Even if they were willing to offer something near list price their lender’s appraiser would be looking at the same sales data.

Is there a chance that the property will be taken over by a relocation company later and that there will be a new price more in line with the comparables?

Valley MLS; Research of Huntsville / Madison market values October 15, 2011
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