Running comps in small town

one way to get close to a price is to go by sq ft price.

EX: 1200 sq ft house sells for $120,000. divide the sq ft into the price which equals $100 per sq ft.

if has more land, add more for the land

you might compare tax assesments just for kicks and giggles,but not accurate

Thank you mike! Any more ideas are greatly appreciated. Wonder if anyone else has run into this scenario.

Thank you Eric for the advice. Tammy

totalview

eppraisal

zillow

are tools you can play around with

check with the courthouse property records to see what the tax assesments are(they are not true value)

Thank you Mike; will do!

are from Real Estate Agents by far. Assessed value will get you in the range but you need to know what properties have sold for in the past. Have an agent pull solds up to a year and compare the following items.

1. Style of house. (Don't compare a Ranch to a 2 story.) (Don't Compare an REO to a Retail purchase.)

2. Beds/Baths. (Don't compare a 2 bedroom to a 4 bedroom.)

3. Price per square foot. (Sold price divided by sqft. x sqft of your subject property)

if there are no sales, there are no comps unless the banks and parties will accept a longer time period

Like to add, I ran into the same situation!! Best advice is to KNOW your market .....I went to the courthouse and purchased a pile of tax maps and got to know EVERY house, owner and taxes on just about every parcel in my small town.
In this case....get EXPERIENCE looking at EVERY house for sale in your town....EVERY FOR SALE BY OWNER
EVERY estate sale, tax sale, ANY SALE ........and u will begin to KNOW the fmv of all of them before long.the sq ft is also as said above the closest.
Good luck!!!!.u will prevail!!! Keep PERSISTENT!!
JAY

Talk to contractors and get a sq ft price to build the same house....I know these r not comps but any and all info u learn will help
If there r absolutely NO comps...u must learn SOMEHOW from SOMEONE what the prospect house is worth!!
An agent would be the best choice! !
Jay

Thank you Jay and everyone for all your help. Tammy

I just had a recent request from an Asset Management company "Clear Capital" to do a BPO, which is Broker Price Opinion on a real estate property. Broker price opinion is basically a cheap appraisal for the bank, something quick and cheaper for the bank. The property was very big in sq footage, and not many comps in this small town of Muskogee, Oklahoma. They requested to go back several years and try to find properties of closer square footage in order to get results. This was a challenge as only one property had very similar sqft. In other properties, you have to do adjustments on Year Built, SQFT, lot size, etc.

As a general rule by Property Preservation Companies and Asset Management Companies, the use the following for Comps:

+/- 15 on gross SQFT
+/- 40% on lot size
+10 years - 30 years on year built

They also look for adjustments if properties differentiate due to condition, fair, average, good, excellent condition.

As a side note, in Urban areas, they like to see 0.5-1.0 mile radius, 3 miles suburb, 5+ rural area for radius (miles).

Thank you Thomas and Jeri, Maybe since this is such a rural area, the comps can be taken further away. Well maybe not, the next closest town is 12 miles away, but perhaps there is something in between that will work. Something to look into. Thanks again. Tammy

in Rural areas, there is no really a limit for the asset management properties to value a property as long as the other towns are rural and also in similar situation. It will be worth to check on that town within 12 miles of your area.

Doesn't going farther back in time render the comp useless? I mean, prices change over time, right? Just confused about this.