Determining True Market Value
If your plan is to buy and flip a home then you need to have some kind of benchmark for understanding and determining the true market value of your property. This means doing research ahead of time. If you stumble across a hot property –or what you think is hot –you want to have the knowledge and market understanding under your belt so that you are in a position to make a snap decision on a purchase and a sale. Only experience, research and investigation into the market can provide that kind of knowledge and understand of the true market value of property and real estate.
If your plan is to buy a house then start investigating at least 3 months before you plan to buy. Contact agents and read the real estate listings in the papers as well as researching online listings in order to get a feel for what’s on the market. See what sellers are asking for their homes and make note of how long it takes for them to sell their property based on their asking price. Does the seller have to bring their asking price down over the course of a few months or do people get into a bidding war over a piece or real estate and end up paying the seller more than the original asking price?
When you’ve got a few good examples to reference you’ll be in a better position of power to make a quick decision if you see something you believe is a good deal and will be an easy flip. In short there is no way to know the exact market value of any property at any given time because the real estate market is dynamic. Prices rise and fall. The best you can do is research similar property and see how quick or how long it takes to sell them. A good agent should also give you a realistic market price indication and finally you can always talk to a professional appraiser.
But for most good properties they don’t stay on the market long so if you have the opportunity to buy something you think is a good price based on the current market value, then you don’t want to waste any time trying to determine if it’s a good deal or not.
