How much is my house worth? – It’s a question that has knocked every current or future homeowner’s head at least once. Even if you are leasing a property, knowing its real-time market worth can ensure that you get the price that you deserve. The estate market is quite dynamic. Economic conditions, asset appraisals, market demand, and a plethora of other factors are involved in determining the price of a home. This makes it difficult for a layman to guess the right price of a house without any prior reference and hearsay may be even more detrimental since it can lead you to have false expectations.
Data from the National House Building Council (NHBC) shows that 153,339 new homes were registered in 2021, a 25% increase from 2020. A fair share of these registrants are first-time buyers, using the right tools and personnel to find a home’s fair market value is of utmost importance.
Ways To Find The Fair Market Value Of Your Property
The fair market value of a property is the amount you would get if you sold it privately today. This value is crucial for determining your home’s equity and investment potential as well as for sale purposes. Here are a few ways you can derive this figure with varying levels of accuracy and effort.
Contact An Estate Agent
There can be no better source of finding your home’s fair market value than getting in touch with an experienced estate agent. Owing to their industry know-how, agents can take into consideration every detail that might impact your home’s price.
Getting an agent with expertise in your locality can be the cherry on the cake. What makes this process truly worth your time is that once the appraisal is done, you can directly launch into the sales or marketing for your home because by then your agent already knows everything they need to know to get you an optimal deal.
Keep an eye on recent sale prices
Finding recently sold properties in your neighbourhood that are comparable to your home in terms of size, square footage, condition, features, and age will help you determine the fair market value of your house. Since these are freshly made deals, they provide a fair insight into current market trends.
If you’re finding it too difficult to find a house that resembles yours, get an average value of pounds per square footage and multiply it with the size of your house accordingly. Do not be overly dependent on these figures because often separate homes can have qualities such as a good view or nice furnishing that may set them apart.
Use Online Tools
You can find real estate price calculators online that come up with a potential price for your house based on the basic background you provide. You can also join online forums for homeowners that regularly discuss pricing and market conditions. Investment in the rapidly expanding UK PropTech sector reached record levels in 2021 and has increased by more than fourfold since 2020, indicating the adoption of technology to generate real estate data. Even though the precision of the numbers provided on these platforms isn’t very high, they’re a good place to start your research.
Find Property Tax Statements
Property tax statements can help you find out how the government values your property when calculating its taxes. It can prove as a starting point in your market valuation journey since the system assigns a baseline you may work upon.
Although based on the UK’s property taxation system, it is highly likely that your property may be undervalued as per its tax statements and reflects an outdated figure. Also, this method only provides a yearly roundup of your house’s worth whereas, in the market, prices fluctuate every few weeks and months.
Conclusion
The property, the plot on which it stands, neighbouring properties, recently sold homes, and market rates on any given date are just a few of the many elements that go into determining a home’s fair market value. In case you want to find out the potential price of your home just out of curiosity, then an internet search is good enough to give you a rough idea. If you’re seriously considering selling or leasing soon, you must put your faith in professionals. It is hard to assess the worth of an individual home using no personalisation and so ensure that your agent gives your case enough time and attention so that you can walk into the market fully aware of what to expect.