The amount you can borrow will depend directly on the value of your seaside home. It is critical to know what your home is worth prior to moving forward with plans to refinance, obtain a home loan, or put your seaside home up or sale.
To do this you will need to evaluate other seaside homes in your immediate area. Find out what seaside homes have sold for in the past 6 months that are comparable in size, style, and age. This information can be obtained from real estate agents or from the courthouse. This technique will likely not cost anything.
Another way to find the value of your seaside property is to find its appraised value. To do this you need to pay for the help of a trained and licensed professional. They will take into account a variety of factors, including the homes square footage, construction quality, floor plan, design, surrounding neighborhood, proximity to important services and locations, as well as the landscaping, among other factors. An appraiser will usually cost anywhere between $300 and $500.
The appraiser will be able to determine what the replacement cost of the home would be. The replacement cost is generally used by insurance companies when determining how much the home should be insured for. It takes into account what the seaside home would cost to build in todays dollars.
One point that also needs to be made is that a homes appraised value, replacement value, and worth are threes separate things. A seaside home’s worth is established by what a buyer is willing to pay for the home. A homes estimated or appraised value is defined by one of the methods listed above, while its worth is eventually established by what potential buyers are willing to pay for it. Replacement cost is also established by the market, with the primary factors being the cost of materials and labor.
In Closing
If you are selling your seaside property, it is wise to build in some kind of buffer on the sales price to allow for some downward movement in the price for negotiations. But don’t overprice the home to the point that it scares away potential buyers. Your real estate agent will be able to help you set a listing price that is right for your seaside home.