The process of selling a home can be incredibly overwhelming for many home owners. The first step in this process, a home evaluation, answers key questions for owners and provides crucial information that will ultimately set in motion how to best market a home to potential buyers. We recently sat down with Alex Yoel to discuss his experience with home evaluations and what owners can expect during this process.

LJG: What's the process that goes into evaluating a home?

AY: When I'm asked to determine the value of a townhouse, my first step is always to personally tour the property. Plenty of information can be drawn from a computer screen, but the essence of property value lies in buyer perception. By experiencing the house for the first time and getting in the eventual buyer's head, I can more accurately determine the value of the property.

LJG: What questions do you typically hear from owners once the process is complete?

AY: I nearly always get questions about pricing. This is an important process as property estimates from other brokers or appraisers will generally be all over the map, and it's important that you are comfortable with both your asking price and your broker. I also often hear interview style questions about our sales process and what differentiates us from our competition.

LJG: What features gives a home the most value?

AY: There are three objective measures of value, and one subjective measure. The first objective measure is size - width, square footage, number of stories, ceiling heights, etc. In the case of each, the more the better. The second measure is location. In each neighborhood, there are more and less desirable blocks. Generally speaking, the closer you are to a park (Central Park or Prospect Park, for example) and the closer you are to high-quality retail, the more valuable your property is. The third objective measure is condition. A newly renovated house with no structural issues will be worth more than an older house which may have buckling floors, sagging stairs, or dated plumbing.

The subjective measure is taste. To some extent beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A home can undergo an extraordinary expensive renovation, but if the aesthetics or the layout disagree with most buyers' taste and lifestyle, a property will have trouble selling.

LJG: What can hurt the value of a home?

AY: The biggest detriment to a home's value is sitting on the market for too long of a period. This typically happens when the price is too high in an initial marketing period. It's fine to ask an aggressive price initially, but if the market is not responding favorably to the price it is necessary to adjust. Without adjusting, your home will lose its presence in buyers' minds and will attract significantly less attention.

The exception to this rule is the ultra-luxury market where properties take a long time to sell regardless of pricing.