Not Knowing How Much Your Home Is Worth Can Cost You

So the way that I bought this boat was, it was on the side of the road and I called the guy selling it and I said: “Hey, I’m interested in taking a look at this boat.” He says, well, I’m going to tell you, I’ve got a guy who’s coming tonight to look at it. He’s pretty interested and he wants to give it a test trial.

I said okay well let me tell you, I have the ability to come to meet you in 20 minutes and give you cash. And if I brought you cash full price offer right now, would you sell me your boat? He says, well, I’m a businessman, absolutely bring me the cash and we’ll make a deal. So I bought the boat BUT before I did, I looked up the price on the NADA Price Guide.

I bought it for 50% less than the low retail price. You know how they give you the range? Like the trade in value versus the retail, which is about a 50% difference on this boat. I paid 50% less than the low end! And the point that I want to make here is that a lot of people sell their house without any expert advice. Apparently, only 21% of homeowners use a real estate agent to set the price of their house….

Recently we sold this house in Owings that appraised for $40,000 more than what the previous 2 Realtors told them their house would sell for. We actually sold it for $2,000 more than what it appraised for so they made out with $42,000 more than they thought they would!

What I find that people just don’t know how much their house is worth because unlike a car, there’s no black book, there’s no blue book, there’s no NADA guide that will tell you all that information and here in Southern Maryland houses are so unique and so different. They’re all built at different times by different builders on different topography in different areas and is nearly impossible to be very precise about how much a home is worth That’s why? That’s the reason why at the mayor group we order an appraisal for all of our listings.

That way you know how much the home is worth and we know how much the home is worth to a very tight, precise window. It could be still sold within a range but within a very tight range and in many cases it’s worth a lot more money than you think it’s worth or I think it’s worth…