The CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) is a very important tool for determining what a home
s value is, relative to other homes similar to the home you are considering purchasing or selling. There are a number of facts and factors that are considered, compared and contrasted within a CMA. But essentially, a CMA
when properly prepared and evaluated
can add significantly to understanding a property
s true fair market value (FMV).

A thorough CMA is information drawn from a variety of sources, selected for specific criteria and carefully focused to provide a detailed cost-value-benefits assessment. It is not enough to simply look at recent activity in one neighborhood or sub division and calculate the average price for a home sold in recent months. The neighborhood
s current, recent and historical activity, the area
s history
going back not just months but years, activity in a number of categories including homes for sale that both expired and were withdrawn from the market, and ...

Working with a Real Estate Team when you are buying a home
whether it
s your first or the next - your relationship with your realty
team leader
should not be an adversarial relationship. Trust between you, the Client, and your service team leader
your Realtor
should be the first aspect of the relationship to be established. Yet that often seems to be the most difficult and elusive part of the relationship to establish.

For the Client, this as an unusual, often daunting process, fraught with shifting emotions and financial ambiguities. Since most Clients only buy or sell one or two homes in their lifetime, and usually years apart becoming comfortable, no less schooled in the current market conditions, financial and credit requirements, home valuations, location concerns and so many more items on an ever-growing and increasingly complex check-list of do
s, don
ts musts and must not
s, means you must find a professional to educate and guide you. .. a professional you can rely ...

Experienced Buyer
s Agents hear this one all the time from their Clients:
We
ve looked at so many houses today, this is the last one, and it
s not very pretty, let
s just call it a day and start again tomorrow.
Any Realtor who is an advocate for their Client, especially those who have shown thousands of homes and sold many hundreds of homes knows that you should never judge a book by its cover. A property that you may not think, from the outside is
cute
, or
pretty
or
elegant,
may have all the attributes you are seeking on the inside; and because it may not be the
prettiest
home on the block, may be far more negotiable in price. And if you don
t like the home
s color, or the porch is ugly
there
s rarely anything about a home that cannot be changed to suit your individual tastes.

As is often the case, when you open the book
s cover and peer inside at the pictures and words
you discover a story well worth reading. For example, one of our in-town Clients had very definite ...

For years they dreamed of leaving the suburbs and finding the
perfect
cottage in one of the Atlanta
In-Town
neighborhoods. Where walking was not just a form of exercise but an opportunity to stroll over to a great bistro, an iconic neighborhood art gallery or just shop a supermarket without having to get in their car, drive several miles and then hunt up a parking spot somewhere vaguely in proximity to the store
s entrance. This year, as their last child was leaving for college, the chance to embrace that dream became real.

Now, facing the reality that the time to move into town was at hand, they needed a plan. Step 1, find a Realtor who could help them organize a search for their dream home, and help them prepare and then sell their current home in the burbs. Step 2, working with their Realtor: develop a plan for narrowing their searches
which neighborhoods in-town best fit both their
wish-list
and needs. Step 3, begin working with a Lender to determine just how much th ...