Here at the Law Office of Kristen L. Campbell LLC in Ohio, one of the things we do on an almost daily basis is to help divorcing couples arrive at a fair and equitable property settlement agreement. Usually this includes assessing the value of the marital home, which often represents the couple’s largest asset.
Assessing your home’s true value can be tricky, especially if you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse have decided to sell it and split the proceeds. Many factors enter into a home’s sales value, but as U.S. News reports, the sentimental value you attach to your home is not one of them. When you decide to sell your home, you must put all sentiment aside and treat the sale as the business proposition it is.
Value factors
You likely have often heard the old real estate truism that location, location, location determines the value of your home. While this certainly represents a huge factor, however, it does not represent the only one. Other factors such as the following also come into play:
- The age of your home
- The total square footage of living space it contains
- The number and types of improvements you have made to it since purchasing it
- The age and condition of its roof and other structural components
- The lot size or acreage on which it sits
- The price at which other comparable homes in your neighborhood have recently sold
Professional appraisals
Ultimately, the value of your home rests on two factors: the amount a buyer is willing to pay and the amount a bank or other lending institution is willing to finance. Consequently, before you put your home on the market, you would do well to hire a professional home appraiser, one who knows your neighborhood well. If you fail to do this, your potential buyer’s preferred lending institution undoubtedly will hire an appraiser of its own.
Increasing your home’s value
As you already know, any improvement you make to your home will cost you money. However, some reasonably priced value-enhancing improvements include the following:
- Fresh paint, inside and/or outside, in a neutral color or combination of neutral colors
- Refinished kitchen cabinets
- New outdoor landscaping
For additional information on this and other property division issues, please visit this page on our website.
