What Your Home Is Worth
A real number from someone who has been inside the comparable homes, not an automated estimate that has never seen your kitchen.
Why the online number is usually wrong
Every automated home estimate works the same way. It takes what sold nearby, adjusts for square footage and bedroom count, and produces a number. It has never been inside your house.
It does not know you redid the kitchen. It does not know the house behind you backs onto a wash and has no neighbor, or that it backs onto a road and does. It does not know your primary suite is on the ground floor, which in this market is worth real money to a specific buyer. It does not know your roof is nine years old and the identical house that just sold needed a new one.
Those differences are not small. On a home in this price range they routinely move the number by more than most people expect.
An automated estimate is a fine place to start wondering. It is a poor place to make a decision.
What I do instead
I have been inside the comparable homes. That is most of it.
When I work out what your house is worth, I am not reading a spreadsheet of nearby sales. I am comparing your house to specific houses I have walked through, in your neighborhood, and adjusting for the things that actually separated them. Which had the better lot. Which had been updated and which had been maintained. Which sold quickly and which sold after two price drops, and why.
Then I look at what is on the market right now, because those are not comparables, they are competition. Your buyer is choosing between your house and those, on the same Saturday.
It costs nothing, there is no obligation, and I do not need you to be selling. Plenty of people want to know where they stand before they decide anything, and that is a reasonable thing to want.
What you get, and what I will tell you
You get a real number with the reasoning attached, the specific homes I compared yours to, what is currently competing with it, and my read on timing.
That last one matters more than people expect. Sometimes waiting is better than listing, because of what is happening in your specific neighborhood. I would rather tell you that and have you call me in eight months than list something that sits.
If your expectation and my number do not match, you will hear it from me before anything is signed. I would rather lose a listing than take one at a price I cannot deliver.
If you are thinking about a move out of a long-time family home, the number is only half of it. The Legacy Method covers the rest.
The neighborhoods behind the number
A real number comes from knowing the street rather than the city. The ones I know best are across Scottsdale, Fountain Hills and North Phoenix, including DC Ranch, McDowell Mountain Ranch, Grayhawk, McCormick Ranch and Fountain Hills.
Neighborhoods here do not move together. Two communities ten minutes apart can be having completely different years, which is exactly why a valuation built on the wider Scottsdale average tells you very little about your street.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a valuation cost anything, or commit me to selling?
Neither. It is free, there is no obligation, and you do not have to be selling. Plenty of people want to know where they stand before deciding anything, and that is a reasonable thing to want.
Why is your number different from the one I saw online?
Because an automated estimate has never been inside your house. It does not know what you have updated, which way your lot faces, what is behind you, or how old your roof is. I compare your home to specific houses I have actually walked through.
What if you tell me a number I do not want to hear?
Then you have heard it from me before you listed rather than after ninety days on the market. Sometimes waiting beats listing right now. I would rather tell you that than take a listing at a price I cannot deliver.
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Ready to make your move with Jen Keene?