I had a friend call me yesterday that is thinking about selling her house in the near future.  She is rather “frugal” sometimes, (I can’t say cheap can I?) so she wants to try and sell it on her own.  While she was at the bank, the manager told her to call me to get a CMA so she knows what it’s worth.

I appreciate the banker telling her to call me, which she did. And she asked me what I would charge her to do a CMA.  A CMA is a Comparative Market Analysis.

I told this lady that she could get a free CMA from almost any agent in the world and if any agent tried to charge her for it she should immediately get up and walk away.

I also told her not to waste her time.

A CMA isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.

That statement is pretty much blasphemy in the real estate world so, let me say it again. A CMA is not worth the paper it’s written on and is a complete waste of time.

Why do I say that???

Take that CMA in to your banker and tell them you bought a house and here is the CMA to prove what its worth.  See if that same banker will take the real estate agents word on what that house is worth and write you a check based on that.

I bet they won’t.

And if they won’t, then why should you?

According to an article in the LA Times, 67% of the people do not trust real estate agents. Should you?

Like this quote from Budha:

Believe nothing on the faith of traditions,
even though they have been held in honor
for many generations and in diverse places.
Do not believe a thing because many people speak of it.
Do not believe on the faith of the sages of the past.
Do not believe what you yourself have imagined,
persuading yourself that a God inspires you.
Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests.
After examination, believe what you yourself have tested
and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto.

What does that mean?

Just because that’s the way it’s always been done does not mean it’s the best way to do it.

It would take a lot of space to tell you here, the best way to price a house. (I actually typed it, it was 10 pages long.)  Let’s just settle, for now, to say DO NOT GET A CMA from a real estate agent or website.

Shoot me an email if you want to know and I will be happy to go over it with you. Or you could wait for my new book to come out.  There is an entire chapter this.