How to calculate the price of your apartment in the midst of the coronavirus crisis

 

The coronavirus crisis has meant a before and after for the real estate sector. It is enough to see the steep decline that property sales have suffered. According to the College of Registrars, second-hand housing transactions fell 42.2% year-on-year in the second quarter of the year. That adds to the predictions of much of the experts that anticipate a general decline in house prices. In fact, according to the Gesvalt appraiser, decreases were already observed throughout Spain in this third quarter.

In this context of uncertainty, sellers wonder how to price their homes. Although there is no simple answer to this question, the financial comparator HelpMyCash.com explains in their new practical guide to selling a home three ways to find out the value of a home in the midst of a pandemic.

1. Consult various industry experts

Real estate agencies can be of great help to sell an apartment in times of crisis. They know the market and are experts in their area. Therefore, they can provide extremely valuable information for the sale, such as the time it takes to sell an apartment in our neighborhood under current circumstances.

In addition, real estate companies can value the home for free and without obligation. Yes, some may make the mistake of giving us too inflated a price, in order to attract us as clients. For this reason, it is advisable to contact, at least, three real estate agencies, both online as traditional and ask them as many questions as we can.

For example, we can ask them how many apartments have you sold in the last few months in the area and at what prices, how long they have taken, what price should we put on our house if we want to sell it quickly … Your answers can give us clues about the amount we could set before forecasts are met and house prices fall further.

2. Look at the amount of the apartments published in the real estate portals

Likewise, it is advisable to look at the amounts of flats similar to ours published in real estate portals, they explain from HelpMyCash. This can help us get an idea of ​​the competition we have in the area and to see in what price range a house with the same characteristics as ours is sold.

Yes, you have to keep in mind that These prices correspond to the offer and that, generally, sellers usually negotiate the amount with buyers to close the sale. Therefore, we must use this information as a guide and not as an absolute truth.

3. Use ‘online’ assessment tools

Another way to obtain an estimate of the value of our apartment is through online home appraisal tools. Most are completely free and very easy to use. Many have been developed by experts in the sector, such as appraisal companies, real estate companies online, real estate portals or, even, banks. Their valuations help us to have an approximation of market prices.

However, it must be taken into account that many of these tools use their own data to make the estimates, so results can vary greatly depending on the platform used. In this sense, it is advisable to make as many evaluations as we can.

The price of the apartment is what the buyer is willing to pay

Keep in mind that a flat does not have a single market price but several, that is, it is located within a range. In fact, we could say that the appropriate amount to sell a home is none other than what a buyer is willing to pay.

Therefore, the ideal is to value our home through these three mechanisms, compare the results obtained and create our own price range. If we remove the very extreme values, both low and high, we will be left with average prices on which we can set our own.

The rush to sell and the strategy we want to follow to sell the house will determine which side of the range we should be on. Then, the interest that the apartment arouses and the offers we receive will tell us if this price will help usget a quick sale of the house or if, on the contrary, we must adjust it.

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