Comparable Home Sales


A look at some sales data for our area

In 2023,  less than 1/2 mile from our property,  a 2944 sqft home with 1.5 acres sold for $183 a square foot.

In 2019, a neighbor sold a 2-acre wooded lot for $67,500 or $33,750 an acre.   

In 2024, a 2-acre lot, just a few miles south of us with only dirt road access sold for $109,000 or $54,500 an acre. That's an increase of around 60% from 2019 to 2024 just for a rough land lot.

If we applied these older figures to this property, we could use $183 per sqft times 4,237 = $775,371 - for the home and 1.5 acres.  We would then be left with an additional 8.26 acres to compare sales on just land. Remember, this land can be easily divided again. One of the plots is already cleared and has been perked in the past, so part of this land is what would be considered a ready to build lot.  If we are extremely conservative and apply the 2019 price paid per acre for a wooded lot on our road, we would use 8.26 times $33,750 = $278,775 - So for comparable sales using 2019 and 2023 sales data, the grand total market price would be $1,054,146 for this home and property.  The market has gone up considerably since 2019 and has certainly not gone down since 2023. The appraisal value proves this to be true.


Appraisal Value

This property was appraised on 7/29/24 and appraised at $1,100,000, with the current market value range being between 1 million and 1.2 million. An appraisal is much more nuanced than just using past comparable sales as I did. The appraiser goes over the home and property in fine detail, as well as the neighborhood, current market conditions, comparable homes that have recently sold, the land value, etc. This value is much more reliable than simply a market comparison value and considers many more variables. We are happy to share the appraisal report with qualified buyers.


Market Value

The reality is that in most cases, the current market will determine the price, not past comparable sales or anything else.  Sometimes sellers price things wrong and buyers that are quick get lucky. Sometimes a buyer overpays because it is exactly what they want and they don't care that they paid more than what it was worth.  So should we use either of those scenarios to come up with the current market value? I say no. The market will determine the value.

How About online value estimates like Zillow?

I have learned a lot about Zillow. They make their money by matching buyers with realtors. Some realtors pay them for leads. They have many tactics to do this and it makes me have high doubts about the accuracy of a Zestimate. Our home had a Zestimate well below market value before it was listed. I made an account at Zillow and updated all the home facts. The Zestimate would rise and fall from week to week. When I listed our property as for sale by owner, the Zestimate was still well below not only market value, but the listing value.  I contacted Zillow to let them know about the remodeling that occurred in 2023 and they said it was included in their estimate already. Funny thing is, as soon as I paid to have the listing on the MLS, the Zestimate shot up to just under the listing price. This happened the moment the listing was active on the MLS. Nothing changed with the details of the home, but the Zestimate sure did. Why? Because a Zestimate is simply a marketing tool that Zillow uses to bring value to their services.  Zillow is out to make money and that's great, but they are not upfront about the tactics and manipulation of the Zestimate.  Nevertheless,  Zillow can not determine the current market value of a home or property, only the market can.  

Assessed Tax Value

Tax accessors generally do not come out to properties to make or update assessments, so their assessments are basic and rely on the initial details of the property. Unless each and every improvement to the property is reported to the accessor, they are often missed and not included in updated assessments.   Tax assessments are done in order to make sure everyone is paying their fair share of taxes in a county, not to give you a current and accurate market value. If the property you are buying has a low tax to market value, be assured that your neighbor's assessments are going to be lower than the market value as well. It used to be that buyers expected to purchase properties around tax value, but with market values outpacing tax values for years now, this is no longer the case. The point is, tax values almost always do not represent market values.

Cost to Build

The average cost to build a new home like this in 2024 is going to be well over $180 per square foot. No one thinks about the cost of prepping the property, getting power, water, gas, a septic system, the driveway, etc.; they look at the cost to build a home and then are surprised how much more it cost once they realize that building the home is only part of the cost. You might get a cookie cutter home built in a packed subdivision for less, but that's not what we are talking about here.


Make an Offer

We have the suggested price below the appraisal value and we are interested in looking at all offers.