A CMA is an argument. Read the evidence, not the conclusion.
A comparative market analysis takes closed sales of homes similar to yours, adjusts for how they differ, and produces a range. The document you get handed usually leads with a number. The number is the least informative part of it.
What a home sold for is evidence. What a home is currently listed at is a seller's opinion, and unsold inventory is often unsold for a reason. A CMA leaning on active listings is telling you what other sellers wish rather than what buyers did. Pending sales sit in between and are worth noting but not leaning on.
Check style, age of construction, lot size, finished square footage above and below grade, garage, and whether the basement finish is comparable. Then check location at a finer grain than the city name. Proximity to an arterial road, position on a hillside, and which side of a freeway a home sits on all move price within the same zip code.
No two homes match, so each comparable gets adjusted up or down for its differences. Ask what those adjustments were and how they were derived. Large unexplained adjustments are where a predetermined conclusion usually hides.
If one comparable is carrying the top of the range, ask what was different about that sale. Sometimes there is a real reason. Sometimes it was a buyer with an unusual motivation, and it will not repeat for you.
A good analysis produces a range and a strategy for where in it to list and why. Pricing is also a timing decision — where you sit relative to what else is about to come to market is part of the argument. Ask for that reasoning, and be careful with an agent whose number sits well above every other opinion you got.
Tell us where the home is and what the timing looks like. We will match you and send you the questions to ask.
Get Matched With an AgentEarly questions are fine. Most people talk to us months before they list.