How to read the comps your agent shows you

Every listing presentation includes a page of comparable sales. Most sellers glance at the prices and move on. That page is the entire basis for the number you are about to accept, and it is worth ten minutes of real attention.

Here is how to interrogate it.

What makes a sale comparable

Four things, in order of importance.

Proximity. Same town, ideally same neighbourhood, ideally the same school attendance area. Values change across a town line for reasons that have nothing to do with the houses.

Recency. Within six months is ideal. Beyond twelve months a sale is history rather than evidence.

Similarity. Comparable square footage, bed and bath count, style, age, lot and garage.

Condition. The one most often skipped, and the one that moves the number most.

A sale missing any of these is not useless — it just needs adjusting, and the adjustment should be stated.

The questions to ask

"Did you see the inside of these?"

This is the single best question. An agent who walked the comparable sales, or who at least studied their listing photos, knows whether the house that sold for $412,000 had a renovated kitchen. An agent who pulled addresses and prices out of the system does not, and their number is a guess wearing a suit.

"Were there concessions?"

A house that sold for $400,000 with $12,000 back to the buyer effectively sold for $388,000. The recorded price does not say so. Concessions are usually visible in the MLS record to an agent who looks.

"How long did each one take?"

Three comparable sales that each sold in a week tell you something different from three that each took four months at the same price. The first group says you can price with confidence. The second says the band is soft.

"What did these list at?"

The gap between list and sale price across your comparables is the most practical number on the page. If houses in your band are consistently selling at 97% of asking, that is your pricing strategy right there.

"What is currently active, and what expired?"

Closed sales tell you what happened. Active listings are your actual competition this week, and expired listings tell you where the ceiling is — the prices the market has already declined.

An analysis with only closed sales is half an analysis.

Adjustments, and why they should be visible

Your house is not identical to any of them, so each comparable needs adjusting toward yours. More bathroom, less garage, bigger lot, worse road, renovated versus not.

You do not need to agree with every adjustment. You do need to be shown them. A CMA that presents three prices and an average is hiding the reasoning, and the reasoning is the product.

The three warning signs

Only high comps. If every sale shown is at the top of the range and nothing mid-range appears, you are being told what you want to hear in order to win the listing. The market will correct it, slowly and expensively, over the following ninety days.

Comps from a different town. Especially a more expensive adjacent one. A sale in West Hartford is not evidence about a house in New Britain.

A single number with no range. Honest valuation produces a range and a recommendation within it. "Your house is worth $437,000" with no band around it is false precision.

The overpricing trap

Some agents will quote a high number to secure the listing agreement, then begin asking for reductions in week three.

You can spot it before you sign. Ask: "What would you price this at if you needed it sold in sixty days?" and "Which of these comps is the weakest, and why?"

An agent who gives you a straight answer to both is an agent who will tell you the truth later, when it is less comfortable.

What we do

A written analysis with the comparable sales, the active competition, the expired listings, the adjustments made and the reasoning behind them. A range, and a recommendation inside it.

You are welcome to disagree with any of it, and some sellers do — the point is that you can see how the number was built instead of being handed a figure.

It costs nothing, and there is no obligation to list.

Zack DeCaro is a licensed real estate broker in Connecticut and Massachusetts with Property Works New England in Rocky Hill. He has prepared 1,500+ broker price opinions and sold 250+ homes personally.