Hiring an appraiser before listing your home for sale by owner (FSBO) in the Boston Suburbs can be extremely advantageous for multiple reasons.

Firstly, an appraiser can provide you with an accurate estimate of your home’s market value. This is important because pricing your home too high or too low can be detrimental to the success of your sale. Overpricing can make your home less attractive to potential buyers, while underpricing can result in a financial loss for you. Even experienced agents fall into this trap — pricing errors agents make when relying too heavily on price per square foot is something every FSBO seller should understand before naming a number. An appraiser can give you an unbiased assessment of your home’s value based on its condition, location, size, and comparable sales in the area.

Secondly, an appraiser can help you identify any issues or necessary repairs that might impact your home’s value. Knowing these things beforehand can enable you to address them before listing your home for sale, making it more appealing to potential buyers and helping to maximize your sale price.

Another advantage of hiring an appraiser is that it can help you avoid any potential appraisal gaps. Before setting your price, verify your measurements — we covered in detail what happens to your listing when square footage is wrong, and the results consistently hurt both price and negotiations. This is a situation where a bank’s appraisal of your home is less than what the buyer is willing to pay, resulting in a renegotiation of the sale price. An accurate appraisal by a professional appraiser can help you avoid this situation by setting a realistic asking price that is supported by market data and comparable sales in the area.

When choosing an appraiser, it’s important to look for someone who is unbiased and independent. Make sure that the appraiser you hire is a member of a group like Appraisal Institute or the American Society of Appraisers or the Massachusetts Board of Real Estate Appraisers . Additionally, consider the appraiser’s experience and ask for references from past clients. It’s also crucial to ensure that the appraiser you choose is familiar with your local real estate market and has experience in appraising properties similar to yours.

While every dollar counts, the value of hiring an appraiser before listing your home for sale can save you money in the long run by enabling you to set an accurate asking price and address any potential issues before putting your home on the market. The market keeps a record what MLS data on homes that didn't sell reveals is a pattern FSBO sellers rarely look at before listing, and it is often the difference between selling and sitting. An unbiased appraiser can provide you with an independent assessment of your home’s value, making it easier to negotiate with buyers and avoid any potential appraisal gaps.