Looking at a deal currently with a main home (typical cape cod 3/1 1,200ft2) with a secondary house on the same lot (much smaller 768ft2)...the property is listed at a single price and comps on the main home show the list price to be about retail...how do I factor the second house into my offer...?

@Dion DePaoli Thanks for the input.

The post is a little fuzzy in description. It sounds like a structure often called a "Mother-in-law Suite". That tends to imply the property holds one address. If the second structure has its own address then you would treat like a two unit. If it has only one address then treat the property as a 1 unit SFR. If the latter, there might be other similar properties in the area but perhaps not close the Subject Property. So extend the search to see what comes up to get a feel. Comping a property out is finding the closest comparable property assuming no exact match. So other properties with MLS would be presumed to be comparable depending on distance and market which is offset by being a similar property. For instance, if the Subject Property is located in an urban market and you only find similar property setups in rural settings. The features may not behave the same way in both markets. For instances, MLS structures on rural vs urban properties. You may also want to look at other comparable characteristics such as GLA, Age, Lot Size, Etc treating the property like it only has one structure. That would be in addition to the above. In some markets the MLS will act as a premium in other markets not much lift in value may occur. It's gonna be a little bit of best judgement type thing. It sounds like not much of a premium is being assigned to the additional structure in the listing. Certainly the condition and utility will play into how that structure is treated. Zoning may impact the use of the second structure or if the unit is unfinished or has defects. Make sure the structure itself is not a defect in and of itself, btw. If there are two separate address then you may want to consider rental approach and perhaps even comp out the second structure on its own. There is not going to be an exact straight forward approach, you have to start at looking at it with a broad view seeing what is out there you can compare it to. Then limiting the comparisons that best match the subject property and the market. Try and take as much data in from a couple different angles and use some logic to decide how those data points influence the overall value. There is always the idea of speaking to an appraiser or a RE broker on the matter for input as well. Again, it seems as though one agent (the Listing Agent) has already looked and did not feel an increase in price was of merit.

How do I Comp a Two House Property Purchase...

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