The most common method of determining a price for a house is the Comparable Market Analysis (CMA). A CMA will show exactly what properties that are similar to your house have sold for within a recent time frame. These analyses are based on fact, rather than opinion, and that information will always be of more value to you.

Generally, CMAs will list houses in a particular location that are currently on the market, have sales pending on them, have expired from the market, and have sold. Be forewarned: it is primarily the SOLD properties that you need to be concerned with. What houses are listed for on the market is not always a good indication of what their value is, those that have pending sales will only tell you what the listing price is (not what it is going to sell for), and those that have expired because they haven't sold may indicate that they didn't move because they were overpriced.

The CMA will give you some general information about the houses that will be compared: Number of bedrooms and baths, square footage, the listing price and the sold price. It is important that the CMA focuses on houses similar to yours. If your house is a 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath 2 story, a CMA that lists only 3 bedroom 1 bath homes is of little or no value.

To have a good CMA you must have all of the similar sales in the neighborhood in the last year. Obviously, the fresher the data (the more houses sold in the last few months), the better the CMA.

Get a CMA now.