What Tyson E. Sam Looks For When Pricing a Home
The Short Answer
I price a home from the closed sales that match it: the same building or street, the same condition, the same water and view, sold recently enough to reflect today's market. Asking prices and online estimates are where the conversation starts, not where the price is set. Then I adjust for what is different about your home and check the result against how fast that kind of home is selling right now.
Closed Sales, Not Asking Prices
An asking price is a hope. A closed sale is a fact: a buyer, a lender and usually an appraiser all agreed on it. So the first thing I pull for any home is the list of recent closed sales that genuinely compare, and I set aside the listings that have been sitting, because they mostly show where the price is not.
What Makes a Sale a True Comparable
Location first: the same building for a condo, the same subdivision or street for a house, because a canal or a highway between two homes can matter more than a mile. Then size, within a reasonable range; age and condition; the lot; and the features South Florida buyers pay for, such as a pool, a garage and the view.
On the water, the details decide the price: ocean, Intracoastal, a wide canal or a narrow one; the depth; how many fixed bridges stand between the dock and open water; the length of the dock, the lift and the condition of the seawall. Two waterfront homes a street apart can be worth very different amounts for those reasons alone.
For a condo, the building is part of the comparable: its age, its reserves, whether its milestone inspection is behind it, and any special assessment that comes with the unit.
How Recent Is Recent Enough
I prefer sales from the last 90 days, go back to six months when there are too few, and adjust for how the market has moved when I have to reach further. A sale from a year ago in a market that has shifted tells you about last year.
The Adjustments That Matter Most Here
The roof's age and the wind-mitigation features, because they drive what the next owner pays to insure the home. The flood zone and the elevation. The quality and permit history of any renovation. For a condo, the monthly dues and any assessment, which a buyer effectively subtracts from the price. These are the differences I see move South Florida prices most, and they are the ones an automated estimate cannot see.
Why Online Estimates Miss in South Florida
Automated valuations work from public records and recent sales in an area. They cannot see a new kitchen or a roof at the end of its life, whether a canal home sits behind a low fixed bridge, which floor and view a condo has, or that a building has just levied a special assessment. Use them as a starting point, then look at the closed sales yourself.
Reading the Market Around the Price
Once I have a value, I check it against the market the home will sell in. Months of inventory tells me who holds the leverage in that segment; days on market tells me how long buyers are taking to decide; and the share of listings cutting their price tells me how many sellers started too high. In a seller's market a home priced at its value can draw competing interest. In a buyer's market the same price has to be exactly right.
Where to Put the Number
Buyers search in round brackets: up to $500,000, up to $750,000, up to $1 million. A home priced just above a bracket line disappears from the searches of everyone shopping below it. I look at where the value falls against those lines and price so the home appears in front of the buyers most likely to pay for it.
The First Two Weeks
The market answers quickly. If showings are steady and there are no offers after the first couple of weeks, the price is the conversation to have. If there are few showings, look at the photos, the description and the bracket first. Either way, one meaningful adjustment early usually costs less than several small ones later.