Criteria used for CMA (agent, gated communities, square footage, contract)

[Racelady88]

Curious to know what you guys use as criteria when you do a CMA.

We are getting ready to list and I had an agent come do a CMA. It took him 6 days, then he presented me with 3 "comps". Now, I was expecting to see homes with similar square footage, same number of bedrooms & bathrooms, similar properties. What I got was the last 3 houses to close in a 2 square block area. 2 of those houses have less than half the square footage that I have, all 3 of them had less bedrooms & bathrooms.

As a buyer when I make comparisons I tend to compare similar homes, not just the closest ones. I should point out that my neighborhood was built for the most part prior to 1930, but there are a couple of 1960's era homes. Almost none of the houses here have been updated (when I was buying I saw many with 60 amp fuse boxes and other relics of bygone eras), and we did not install granite/stainless/blah-blah-blah as we knew this was not that kind of an area.

I do understand that true comps will be in the same general area, but there are no sub divisions here, no gated communities, no water frontage, no golf courses, none of the stuff that really makes one part of the area any more desirable than another.

I have a different agent from another agency coming out on Tuesday to do a CMA and I am wondering if I will get the same type of "comps".

Any thoughts?

[palmcoasting]

Has nothing sold in the 'area' at all? Meaning outside the two blocks? Where are the listed comps, what about pending/contingent comps?
Do yourself a favor and don't hire him. You know more than he does. No reason why you should be teaching him, either.

[Silverfall]

I start in the same neighborhood and then if I don't get enough I move out to "similar" types of neighborhoods. Buyers don't tend to pick just one neighborhood, but move into others that have similar characteristics.

I will stay in the same neighborhood and compare 1 and 2 story homes if square footage and everything else is similar. I also pull more than three, unless that is all there is. I prefer to have 6-10 comparison properties to even things out and get a better feel for what buyers are willing to pay and not pay.

I personally swing 250 sq feet up and down to start my search (so a 2000 sq foot home would pull comps from 1750-2250 to start). 90% of the time, I can work with that. The exception to that is acreage properties...that's a whole other ball game.

[Racelady88]

Originally Posted by palmcoasting

Has nothing sold in the 'area' at all? Meaning outside the two blocks? Where are the listed comps, what about pending/contingent comps?
Do yourself a favor and don't hire him. You know more than he does. No reason why you should be teaching him, either.

Thank you for the response.

Yeah, I was thinking that there was something lacking in what he gave me. This will be the first time that I have actually done a CMA before listing and I was more than a little surprised with what he gave me.

The market here is for some strange reason picking up. Heaven knows there is not much here but sales and prices are up. Must be the summer sales season.

The agent coming by on Tuesday is the listing agent for 2 of the 3 homes on my street that are currently listed, both of which have gone under contract in the last 10 days. Both of those homes are what I would consider real comps for my house.

[Racelady88]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

I start in the same neighborhood and then if I don't get enough I move out to "similar" types of neighborhoods. Buyers don't tend to pick just one neighborhood, but move into others that have similar characteristics.

I will stay in the same neighborhood and compare 1 and 2 story homes if square footage and everything else is similar. I also pull more than three, unless that is all there is. I prefer to have 6-10 comparison properties to even things out and get a better feel for what buyers are willing to pay and not pay.

I personally swing 250 sq feet up and down to start my search (so a 2000 sq foot home would pull comps from 1750-2250 to start). 90% of the time, I can work with that. The exception to that is acreage properties...that's a whole other ball game.

And thank you also for the response.

A 250 foot swing I could understand. I was offered almost a 900 sf swing on 2 different properties.

You think the way I do. Similar neighborhood, similar properties. There have been enough closings lately to have come up with better than what I got.

Any of you incredible professionals located in Ocala?