The Inaccuracy of accurate home evaluations

If the title seems confusing – good!  Because that is the situation in the real estate marketplace today.  Things are changing almost daily making it impossible to provide an evaluation of a home that is accurate.  Yet, sellers and buyers are expecting real estate agents to do this.

It might seem easy to those outside the industry – isn’t it simply looking at comparable properties and what people paid for them?  This seems logical enough, except there are things missing from the price such as:

1. Emotional reaction to house from buyers
2. Need vs want from buyers to buy and sellers to sell
3. Daily factors such as interest, loan thresholds, etc.

By the time any meaningful research can be done to give an evaluation – it is no longer accurate.  If it were “mathematical”, evaluations would be much easier but they are not.  How does one factor in “emotional” evaluation?  One buyer may walk in and fall in love with the fireplace and living room thus upping the price they are willing to pay – they have become emotionally involved in the house thus increasing its value to them. 

Counter this with a buyer that comes in and likes the location but not the house – how does their “ho-hum” view of the house compare to the emotional value the homeowner places on each room and all its memories? 

Each buyer brings their own “emotion” into the value they are willing to pay or not pay.  Equally, each homeowner does the same – how does a real estate agent factor individual emotions into a price?

The simple answer is they cannot – it is not a science because emotions are at the very core of the buying and selling of a home.