Boston Condo Selling Pricing Strategies

Review Comparable Sales in your Neighborhood (E.g Back Bay, Beacon Hill etc )

After the landscape, comparable play the biggest role in setting the price. Considered part art, part science, “comps” are regarded as the single-best tool in determining a condo’s value. There are some tricks determining which comps are the best; see the article on Picking the Best Comps for help. You can view comps on your property or anyone else’s on Zillow.com, simply by entering an address.

Look at Unsold condos

Condos on the market that haven’t sold yet are also a consideration, although not a strong one, since it’s unproven whether the house will bring the money it’s asking. But, look at the active competition. Find a condo most similar to yours and find out how many days it has been on the market . If the house has been sitting for a while (more than 30 days), you will see the market is not convinced that is the correct price for that condo. Once you see the “Sold” sign, find out how much above or below the list price it sold for. This will give you a good idea of how the market is behaving and how aggressive you can be in setting a price.

Use Square Foot Pricing

Some neighborhoods are a mixed bag of architecture, style, and size, which means if you can’t find another condo similar to yours, you can use square foot pricing. How? Take 3? 5 condos as similar to yours as possible, add up the square footage, and divide by the number of condos. This will give you an average per square foot for your comps. Then, add up the sold price of each condo, divide by the number of condos to get the average. Lastly, divide the average sold price by the average square foot to get the average price per square foot. Once you have the average price per square foot, multiply it by your condo’s square footage. This is just not her tool to help you price your condo.

Examples:

Step 1: Find the average sq. ft. of comps

condo 1 — 1,950 square feet
condo 2 — 2,400 square feet
condo 3 — 1,800 square feet
condo 4 — 2,050 square feet
Total — 8,200 square feet

8,200 / 4 = 2,050 sq. ft.

2,050 is the average sq. ft. of your comps

Step 2: Find the average price of comps

condo 1 — $310,000
condo 2 — $410,000
condo 3 — $299,000
condo 4 — $325,000
Total — $1,344,000

$1,344,000 / 4 = $336,000

$336,000 is the average price of your comps

Step 3: Divide the average price by the average sq. ft.:
$336,000 / 2,050 = $164/per sq. ft.

$164 is the average price per sq. ft. of your comps

Step 4: Set the price of your condo:

Take $164 and multiply it by your square footage to get a price. For example, if you have a 1,975-square-foot condo, multiply it by $164 (e.g., 1,975 sq. ft. x $164 = $323,900).

Bingo! Your condo’s price: $323,900!

Get a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA)

If you’ve used the three strategies above, but still need reassurance, go to a real estate agent — or, two or three — and ask them for a CMA.  Whether you use the agent to sell your house or not, they will be more than willing to provide a CMA in hopes of getting your listing.  It shouldn’t cost you any money to get one.

Get an Appraisal

If you really need extra assurance, hire a professional appraiser. An appraiser will cost approximately $250?-400, depending on your condo size and uniqueness of the property. They will come to your condo and itemize the number of rooms and amenities (e.g., swimming pool, fireplace, etc.) and will pull comps from other nearby condos that sold recently. Once they have completed their review of your condo, the comps, and the market, they will furnish you with an appraisal.

This will be an estimation of your property’s fair market value.