Posted by lyal on November 07, 2000 at 19:36:54:
Ray, You don’t need an appraisal. Do you have a realtor in the family? on the bowling team? part timer that you work with? They can pull comps for you. Make sure they are real comps. Similar size, layout, the more recent the better. Don’t let them show you listings. you want homes that sold and closed.
Barring that. Drive around the area and look for FSBO signs. Knock on the door, tell them you’re “just looking” and see if they’ll show you around. Check out a bunch of open houses and look around and get a feel for asking prices. (Make sure to ask how long its been listed).
You can also ride down the street and look for similar houses. Write down the address and head to the county assessor or recorder’s office and check out the public records. They’ll tell you what any of those houses actually sold for and when. Good education for you anyway as you’ll need to know your way around and you should get acquainted with the people who work there as it will make your life easier if you want to stick with this stuff (Its a H*LL of a lot of fun by the way!!).
Sorry to ramble. The point is that there are things you can do. Only limited by your imagination and ambition.
All the best!!
Lyal