When people compare their house to other houses in their area or neighborhood (also known as a CMA or Competitive Market Analysis), by default they compare the following attributes:

  • Square footage
  • Number of Bedrooms
  • Number of Bathrooms

This is a good start, but there are other features in a house you should keep in mind when you are trying to figure out the “market” price for a house.

Let’s say we have a house in Coles Crossing that is 3500 square feet with 4 beds and 3.5 baths.  I may run a CMA for all houses in Coles Crossing with 4 beds/ 3 baths between 3000 and 4000 sqft.  As of today, that returns me the following averages:

  • $91.22/sqft list price for active listings
  • $85.62/sqft sale price for sold listings over the past 6 months

Pool?

When doing a CMA, it is always a good idea to filter by “with pool” or “without pool” which is evere applicable for the particular house you are comparing.

Using the same criteria as above:

With Pool:

  • $95.14/sqft list price for active listings
  • $91.95/sqft sale price for sold listings over the past 6 months

Without Pool:

  • $90.13/sqft list price for active listings
  • $82.44/sqft sale price for sold listings over the past 6 months

3 Car Garage?

With all of the stuff people accumulate through the years, 3 car garages have become very sought after and definitely makes a difference to a home price.

With a 3 Car Garage:

  • $94.98/sqft list price for active listings
  • $92.55/sqft sale price for sold listings over the past 6 months

With a 2 Car Garage:

  • $89.69/sqft list price for active listings
  • $83.19/sqft sale price for sold listings over the past 6 months

On a Cul-De-Sac?

Living on a cul-de-sac is not going to have as big of an impact on pricing as an extra garage or a pool, but it is something to keep in mind especially in neighborhoods with families with small kids.

On a cul-de-sac:

  • $94.48/sqft list price for active listings
  • $86.37/sqft sale price for sold listings over the past 6 months

On a through street:

  • $91.06/sqft list price for active listings
  • $85.35/sqft sale price for sold listings over the past 6 months

Other Considerations

There are lots of other potential considerations depending on the neighborhood such as:

  • Lake view (good)
  • Golf course lot (good)
  • Backs up to a highway (bad)
  • Lot size
  • etc

In short, there is more to look at than just square footage, bedrooms, and bathrooms when determining the market price for a house.

Here is a summary table of the CMA data used in the post.

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