Sales Comparables

Transcript

Now the comparable sales. We'll import the four condo comps selected for this assignment from an MLS export, review what came in, and complete each one in the grid. Open the Sales Comparison Grid from the section list, under Sales Comparison Approach.

Import the comps

Select Add or Import Comps, and open the MLS Upload tab. It takes an export file from your MLS, with up to fifteen properties. Choose the MLS the file came from: here, Beaches MLS. In the MLS, we exported the four sales we picked during our market research, as a CSV file, with each listing's MLS number. Drop it here, or click to browse. Select Upload. DataMaster reads the MLS numbers from the file and looks each one up in your MLS.

What matched

The review shows what matched. All four MLS numbers were found, and none were skipped as duplicates of comps already in the report. Select Import. DataMaster pulls each listing from the MLS and matches it to public records: the photo, the sale, the project, and the unit. It takes a few moments.

What came in

Each sale fills its own column beside the subject, in the order of the file. The header shows the comp's number and address. Take comp 2. Data Source names the assessor record and the MLS listing. Proximity to Subject is measured from the subject: 1 mile southwest. Then the sale: the list and sale prices, a $5,000 seller concession, the contract and sale dates, and days on market. Below them are the rows a condo adds: each comp is in a project, a condominium, with its project name. Further down are the year built, rooms and finished area.

The source data

To review what an import brought in, open Property Data in the right rail, and choose a property. Here, comp 2. Records lists the data from each source: the public record, and the MLS listing. Photos has every listing photo, and History the property's earlier sales and listings. Close the panel to give the grid its room back.

Complete the comps

Now check every column. Shaded cells are required answers that are still empty, or values to look at. Comp 1's listing doesn't report concessions. We verified there were none. Click the empty cell: the editor opens right in the grid. One click on No answers it, and Escape closes the editor. Same Project as Subject is required for a condo comp: was it sold in the subject's own project? None of these four is in Valencia Village. Two are in The Harvest, and two in University Village. So open each one's Project Name cell, and answer No. Like the subject, each comp's street line came in with its unit number repeated on the end. Open each address, and remove the unit from the street line. The unit keeps its own field, so the report prints it once, after the street. Hazard Zone is required for every comp. The subject sits in a FEMA flood zone, but these four sales are mapped in zone X, outside the special flood hazard area. So for each comp, add an entry, and choose No Hazard Zone Noted. The flood zone difference is something we'll come back to in the commentary.

Quality and condition

Quality and condition aren't in the MLS data; they're our ratings. All four comps are townhouse-style condo units of standard quality, partly updated, like the subject: Q4 and C3. So open the subject's Overall Quality, and copy it to all comps. A message confirms the copy. Then do the same with the subject's Overall Condition: copy C3 to all four comps. Then the interior ratings, the same way: copy the subject's Interior Quality to every comp, and then its Interior Condition. Each copy fills four cells at once. Rate the comps from the listing photos and remarks, and from what you saw when you drove by. The rating is your opinion, not the listing agent's, and every comp is rated on the same scale as the subject.

Adjustments

The comps are in and checked. Next, we'll adjust them for their differences from the subject.