What is my Roseville home worth? How to get a real number before you sell

If you're thinking about selling in Roseville, the first number you'll probably see is an online estimate. It's a reasonable place to start. It just isn't the number a buyer's lender or appraiser will use.

Why online estimates miss

Online tools work from public records: square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms, year built and nearby sales. They don't know what's inside. Many Roseville homes are similar in age and layout, so the difference between two houses on the same street is usually condition, and that's the part an algorithm can't see.

A tool doesn't know you redid the kitchen, put on a new roof or finished the basement. It also doesn't know if the house next door sold low because it needed everything.

The details that move price

• Updates. Kitchen, bathrooms, roof, furnace, windows. Newer and documented beats "it was done a while ago."
• The basement. Dry and finished adds the most. Any sign of past water gets noticed.
• The garage. A two car garage versus one car, or none at all, makes a real difference.
• The lot. Size, a usable yard and a driveway all count.
• The block. A quiet side street usually sells for more than the same house on a busy road or backing up to a commercial lot.

How recent sales set the price

An appraiser or agent picks recent sales that are close by and as similar as possible, then adjusts each one up or down for the differences. Here's a simple example with made up numbers, just to show the math:

• A similar house two streets over sold for $190,000. It has a new kitchen and yours doesn't, so subtract for that.
• Another sold for $175,000. It had no garage and yours has a two car garage, so add for that.
• A third sold for $182,000 and is close to yours in every way, so it gets the most weight.

Your value lands where those adjusted numbers agree. That's why a range is more honest than a single figure, and why recent, close sales matter more than anything else. You can look through recent Roseville sales to get a feel for it.

Getting ready for a value visit without spending much

• Make a list of what you've updated and roughly when. Receipts help.
• Fix the small things. Dripping faucets, burned out bulbs, sticky doors.
• Clear the basement and furnace area so they're easy to see.
• Pick up and declutter. No need to stage anything for a value visit.
• Be upfront about problems. A known issue can be priced in. A surprise later costs more.

Also worth knowing before you decide: what it costs to sell in Michigan, so you can think in terms of what you'll walk away with.

Next step

Start with our free instant home value. It uses recent sales near you and gives you a range in about a minute. If you want a more exact number, ask for a walk through and we'll go over the comparable sales with you, no pressure.