Assessing the Right Price
To attract buyers and ensure you receive a price that works best for you, your Realtor will help establish your home's current market value. "Market value" (given sufficient market exposure) is what you could expect to pay for a property of that kind.
Realtors have access to information from various sources to help establish market value. When retained to advise on pricing questions, Realtors can:
- review the stated value on your current BC Assessment Property Notice
- review recent sales and current listings history for properties like yours
- do on-site inspections, examining the exterior and interior of your property in detail, noting new features that could affect the property's value
- give you information about the current economy and how it may have affected the value of your property e.g. an improving economy may mean rising prices, while a declining economy may mean falling prices
Based on this information, your Realtor can provide an estimate of the value of your property and then, together, you can establish an appropriate asking price.
Most successful home sellers have something in common: they use a Realtor to help them through the complex process of selling their home.
What's the difference between the assessed value and the value a Realtor places on your home?
The assessed value on a municipal property tax notice is determined by BC Assessment (BCA), the provincial government agency responsible for classifying and assessing BC real property. BCA has a database of close to 2 million properties.
BCA's estimate of value is current to the previous July 1, which means values may lag by six months. To update values, BCA appraisers may not visit every property.
A Realtor determines the value of a property by scrutinizing the most recent comparable market data for homes sold in a neighbourhood using the MLS®. A Realtor also physically examines the exterior and the interior of a property, architectural styles, renovations, views, landscaping and neighbourhood zoning.
Where every lot and every home on a street is generally the same, both BCA's estimate of value and a Realtor's estimate of value will be similar. Differences occur depending on the time of year, whether the home is unique, and if there are features such as views.
For more information please visit the following link: rebgv.org