What Your Home Is Worth
A real number from someone who has been in the houses, not an algorithm that has never seen your street.
Why the online estimate is wrong about your house
Automated estimates work from public records and broad patterns. They cannot see your block, your layout, your light, whether the remodel was done well, or what the house feels like when you walk in.
In a market of micro-markets that is a serious limitation. Two homes that look almost identical online can have completely different outcomes.
The estimate is not useless. It is just a starting point that has never been inside.
What you actually get
A written comparative market analysis that names the specific properties it is built on, with the adjustments explained, so you can see the reasoning rather than trusting a number.
Three pricing strategies with honest trade-offs. Aggressive, market-matching, and below market to manufacture competition. Each with its risk stated plainly.
A ranked prep list, with the work that pays for itself separated from the work that does not.
All of it free, with no obligation and no pitch attached. Plenty of people who ask are two years out. Two years out is a better time to talk than two months out.
Pricing is a strategy, not a value
Worth understanding before you get any number from anyone. In this market a list price is frequently a strategy. Sometimes deliberately low to create competition, sometimes aspirational and far too high.
So when an agent hands you a single number, the useful question is which strategy it represents. If they cannot answer that, the number is a guess wearing a suit.
Comparable sales follow local buyer logic
San Francisco comparisons begin with ownership type, then narrow by block, hill, microclimate, parking and building information. A nearby condominium and TIC may look similar online while selling to different buyer pools.
San Mateo County cannot be averaged across the bay side and coast side. Caltrain and 101 access support a different market from the coastal climate and route over the hills. Santa Clara County requires attendance boundaries to be verified when they shape demand. A sale across the line may be close in distance and wrong in buyer logic.
Alameda County has three distinct subregions. Inner East Bay, 880 corridor and Tri-Valley sales should not be blended simply to increase the sample. BART, ferry and freeway access can explain why buyers treated similar homes differently. Contra Costa has a wide internal range, with BART access, inland cooling, usable space and parcel-specific assessments all affecting the complete ownership picture.
A defensible valuation names why each sale belongs. It also explains why an attractive nearby sale does not. After the range is supported, aggressive, market-matching or competition-focused pricing can be discussed as separate launch choices. The evidence estimates value. The strategy decides how to enter the market.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the valuation really free?
Yes, and there is no obligation attached. You get the analysis, the three strategies and the prep list whether or not you ever list with me.
How is this different from an online estimate?
An algorithm works from public records and has never been inside your house. I look at the actual property, the actual comparable sales, and tell you what I think it trades at and why.
Is a CMA the same as an appraisal?
No. An appraisal is a formal valuation by a licensed appraiser, usually ordered by a lender. A comparative market analysis is an informed opinion based on comparable sales, and it is free.
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