Need a pre-listing appraisal? Contact Trident Appraisal Services

Avoid having your home on the market too long or selling yourself short by getting an appraisal to demonstrate the right listing price.

A lot of sellers are shocked when they find out that the market value of their home is much more than they thought, so investing in a professional appraisal actually allowed these people to get several thousand dollars over what they thought they'd get for their home. An appraisal helps those who have an inflated opinion of their home's amount of value to decide on a realistic price for their home in order for it to sell. An overpriced house will not attract serious buyers, which means you have wasted time on money and are left with no offers. Each month that your home is still sitting on the market is another month you have to pay its mortgage. In the meantime, you're stuck paying the mortgage while your house is still sitting on the market.

With today's fluctuating market conditions, you should definitely use a licensed appraiser to get a fair listing price for your home.

Are you working with a real estate agent to list your home? Quite often you can expect them to give you a comparative market analysis (or CMA) that includes selected sale homes in your local area. It's a customary starting point in determining your home's listing price. For anyone looking to get most profit out of their house, which includes not having it for sale too long, this is a logical process.

In our opinion, however, you should also get an appraisal from someone who tracks real estate values for living - PRIOR to putting your home on the market - even if you're working with an experienced real estate agent.

That's where we come in! We can do a pre-listing appraisal so you and your real estate agent both have a detailed analysis of the most recent and similar comparable sales and an accurate description of your home's features.

Trident Appraisal Services can help you decide on a realistic selling price so your house will draw in buyers, and we can also:

Be a valuable negotiating tool once you have a potential buyer
Provide written proof of your house's shape inside and out to impress buyers
Eliminate last-minute repair hassles and make you aware of problems
Reduce chances of unknown predicaments that can cause your sale to fizzle
Cut out waiting for the buyer's appraisal to have confidence the sale will go through.

Improvements that add value to your home

In addition to "how much?", there may be other important questions to ask yourself before listing your home. Ask yourself "Should we paint the whole house before we sell it?", "Should I put in that third bathroom?", "Do I need to finish my closet remodel?" Many things which we do to our houses have an effect on their value. But everything will affect it in a different way. Remodeling your kitchen may improve the appeal of a home, but be sure to figure out your expenses before diving in. It may not justify the time and costs involved.

Need help making some of these important decisions? We're here for you. An appraiser has no vested interest in what amount the house sells for, unlike a real estate agent. Our fees are not a percentage of your home's sale price — your fee to us is based on the time and effort required to finalize the report. When it comes to investing in your house and settling on a fair sales price, a professional appraisal from Trident Appraisal Services will help you make the wisest decisions.