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Determining
Your Offer Price
Comparable
Sales – Pending Transactions
The most valuable
information would be the most current, of course. A sale last week has
more validity in helping you determine a purchase price than a sale from
six months ago. The problem is that there is no actual record of the
sales price until the transaction is completed. The information is not
available in the public record because no deed has yet been recorded.
Neither is the
information available in the Multiple Listing Service. Once a property
is sold, it becomes a "pending sale" and all pricing
information is removed from the listing. Prices are not posted until it
becomes a "closed sale." This protects the seller in case the
transaction falls apart and the property is placed back on the market.
It would give an unfair advantage to future potential buyers if they
already knew what price the seller had been willing to accept in the
past.
However, if a Realtor has
a reason to know the sales price, they can usually find out through
professional courtesy. Also, some real estate brokerages post sales
information on a transaction board in their office.
Conclusions
Gathering and analyzing
information from comparable sales helps to establish the range of prices
you should consider when making an offer to buy a home. More weight
should be given to the most recent sales, but even so, you need to do a
bit more analysis before setting upon the price you will offer. That is
because you also need to consider the condition of the property,
improvements, the current market, and the circumstances behind the
seller’s decision to sell.
copyright 2000 by Terry
Light and RealEstate ABC
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