How to Find House Prices in Your Area

Are you curious to know what houses are selling for in your area? Perhaps you’re planning to sell your own home soon, and you need house prices and sales data to help determine your own price. If this describes you, then you’re in the right place. In this lesson, you’ll learn everything you need to know about researching house prices in your area.

Asking Price vs. the Sale Price

First, we need to talk about the two different types of prices you’ll find in the real estate market. The asking price (or list price) is what the seller wants to get for the house. The sale price is what the house actually sold for. When researching your local real estate market, you are mostly concerned with the second item — you want to know the sale price for houses sold in your area. This is the only piece of data that gives you a true sense of the market. It tells you what the market will support, in terms of pricing.

Of course, the asking price tells you what your competitors (other sellers) are doing, so it’s important in that regard. But your primary focus should be on the actual sales data.

How to Research Houses Sold in Your Area

So, you need to ignore the asking price (for now) and zero in on the sale price for houses in your area … but how? Where do you find this kind of information? Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to come by. You can house price information from the Internet these days, and it’s certainly the quickest and easiest way to research your market.

You can also get sale price information from property records at your county tax assessor’s office, appraiser’s office, or whatever it’s called in your county. Real estate transactions are a matter of public record, and that includes the price that a particular house is sold for. Most of the websites listed below use public records to get house prices in your area, so there’s no need to make the trip for yourself. You can view it online! Isn’t that convenient?

You can also get information on houses sold in your area by working with a real estate agent or home appraiser. Both of these professionals will use recent sales data to help you determine what your home is worth in the current market.

Websites That Give You House Prices

Earlier, we talked about the convenience of the Internet when researching house prices for sold homes in your area recently. This kind of data is incredibly useful when setting your own asking price, and it’s easy to find. Here are some websites I recommend using to find pricing information for houses sold in your neighborhood recently.

• Zillow.com
• Trulia.com
• Domania.com
• HomeGain.com
• HouseValues.com (you have to give up your contact info to use this one)

Each of these websites has certain pros and cons. Spend some time using each one to find out which one you like best. They all have different features, bells and whistles, but the house price information comes from the same place (public records). Most of these websites offer a map tool of some kind. Interactive maps are a great way to find the prices for comparable homes sold in your area — i.e., “comps.” This is the key to setting your own asking price when you sell your home.

Just remember: If you want to know what your local real estate market will support, you need to focus on the sale price of houses — not the asking price. You need to know what these homes actually sold for, which is often different from the initial asking price. Some of these websites will initially show you houses that are currently for sale (with the asking price), but they’ll have a link or button somewhere for “recently sold” homes. This is what you want.

Using Comps to Set Your Own Price

Earlier, we defined “comps” as being comparable sales in your area. For example, if you plan to sell a two-story colonial with 2,500 square feet, you want to find recent sales data for two-story colonials in your area. Here are the three criteria that make for a good comp:

• Comparable — This is what “comp” stands for in the first place. The house you use for a price comparison should be as similar to yours as possible. It should be similar in size, style, features, etc.
• Recent — Home values change over time. Just look at what has happened over the last couple of years! So you must consider recent sales data when setting the asking price for your home. The more recent the better. This is why professional home appraisers generally review home sales for the last 30 – 90 days.
• Local — Sometimes, driving a few blocks can change the average price of houses sold (perhaps because of a more desirable school district or neighborhood). So you should review comps that are as close to your street and neighborhood as possible.

So there you have it, a comprehensive lesson in house prices and sales data. I hope this article gives you a better understanding of how the real estate process works. Good luck.

Related articles:

21 Tips for Selling Your Home Quickly

Finding the Prices for Homes Sold in My Neighborhood