Learn To Analyze Comps - Dallas Market

[Brandon G.]

I joined a service that will give me MLS data and so now I have access to this info. But how do I start learning the details? I understand that I have to make adjustments to comparable houses for an extra bedroom or bathroom for example and I understand the math, but how do I determine what a bedroom, bathroom or extra square footage is worth? Are there some general guidelines I can use to start my studies? Maybe a bathroom is worth some percentage of the ARV? I'm looking at homes in Richardson, Plano, Garland areas for now. Can someone with experience in those areas give me some pointers?

[Hattie Dizmond]

@Brandon G. I am farming the Richardson ISD. What I've found is that, for most of the SFR in Richardson, square footage correlates very reasonably to bedrooms. (i.e. You don't find many 1,100 sq ft homes with 4 bedrooms.) As a result, I've not found much need to adjust for bedrooms. Bathrooms are a little different, but you don't find many homes in Richardson with 3+ bedrooms that don't have at least 2 baths. So, I generally give it about $5k for an extra full bath, which really isn't enough to make a huge difference one way or the other. It's pretty much a straight price/sq foot calculation.

Basically, if I have a house that's 2500 sq ft, 4/2/2 and one that is 2200 sq ft, 3/2/2, I'm going to do an straight price/sq ft comparison, since the additional bedroom is accounted for in the extra 300 square foot.

That's my approach.  I'd love to hear if I'm wrong!