Your house does not have a value. It has three, they are meant to be different, and
almost every seller who feels lowballed is comparing two of them against each other.
The three numbers
| | What it means | When it applies |
|---|
Market value
(after-repair value) |
What it sells for on the MLS, repaired, prepped and marketed, to a financed buyer |
You list it, you do the work, you wait |
|---|
| As-is market value |
Market value minus what a retail buyer would discount for the condition they can see — usually more than the repair actually costs |
You list without doing repairs |
|---|
| Cash-offer value |
After-repair value minus repairs, minus the buyer’s costs and margin — no commission, no repairs, no contingencies, 7–21 days |
You need speed, certainty, or out of a repair list |
|---|
The trap is comparing a cash-offer number against a market-value number. Those are not competing
offers for the same thing — one includes four months of your time, $25,000 of repairs, 6% of
commission, and three months of holding costs, and the other does not. The only fair comparison is
net proceeds against net proceeds.
Why the Zestimate is misleading you
Automated valuation models are pattern-matching engines. They read public records and past sales and
produce a plausible number for a typical house with those attributes. They are reasonable at
the middle of the distribution and unreliable at the edges — and a house worth selling off-market
is usually at an edge.
What no automated model can see:
- Condition. The single largest variable. A model cannot tell a renovated kitchen from a 1978
kitchen, or a new roof from one at the end of its life.
- Permits. That converted garage bedroom may not be counted as living area — or worse, may
be counted when it should not be, inflating the estimate.
- The specific block. In San Diego, canyon rim versus canyon bottom, a view versus no view, or
one side of a boulevard versus the other can be a meaningful difference the model averages away.
- Deferred maintenance. Foundation movement, sewer lateral condition, galvanized plumbing, knob
and tube wiring — invisible to a model and very visible to a buyer's inspector.
Use the Zestimate as a range to sanity-check against. Do not use it to price a house, and definitely
do not use it to decide whether an offer is fair.
How after-repair value gets calculated
Every credible cash offer starts here, so it is worth understanding.
After-repair value − Repairs − Buyer’s costs & margin = Cash offer
Three inputs, one output. A buyer who will not show you all three is not doing arithmetic in front of you.
- Pull comparable sales. Closed sales — not active listings — of similar homes within
roughly half a mile, in the last three to six months, similar in size, bed/bath count, and ideally the
same school attendance area.
- Adjust for condition. Comps are renovated homes. Your house is compared to what it would be
after the work, not as it stands.
- Estimate the repairs. What it would actually take to bring it to that standard — roof,
systems, kitchen, baths, flooring, paint, landscaping.
- Subtract the buyer's economics. Their closing costs, holding costs during the renovation,
resale costs, and the margin that makes the project worth doing at all.
The test of a real offer: ask for all three numbers. A buyer who will tell you the after-repair
value, show you the comps behind it, and break out the repair estimate is doing arithmetic. A buyer who
gives you a single number and will not explain it is doing something else.
What moves a San Diego number most
Moves it a lot
- School attendance area
- Coastal proximity and view
- Permitted square footage and bed/bath count
- Condition of roof, foundation, and sewer lateral
- Usable lot and off-street parking
- ADU potential or an existing permitted ADU
Moves it less than owners expect
- Personal-taste upgrades and bold finishes
- Pools — sometimes a negative
- Solar leases (an owned system is different)
- What you paid, or what you owe
- What the neighbor is asking
- Sentimental value, which is real and unpriceable
Before you spend money on repairs
The most costly error in this entire process is renovating first and pricing second. Cosmetic work with
high visual return — paint, flooring, landscaping, decluttering — usually pays for itself. Major
systems work usually does not return its full cost, and it is precisely the category that pushes a house
toward an as-is sale.
Get the three numbers first. Then decide what, if anything, is worth doing.
Get all three numbers on your house
Send the address and you will get an estimated market value, an as-is value, and a cash-offer number
— with the comps and repair assumptions behind them, so you can check the work. Free, no
obligation, and if listing nets you more we will tell you that instead.
What’s my house worth?
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is Zillow's Zestimate in San Diego?
Zillow publishes its own median error rate, and for off-market homes it is materially larger than for listed homes — typically several percent. On a San Diego house that is easily a five-figure swing, sometimes six. The deeper problem is not the error rate: an automated model cannot see condition. It does not know about your foundation, your 30-year-old roof, the unpermitted bedroom conversion, or the fact that you remodeled the kitchen. Treat it as a starting range, never as a value.
What is after-repair value?
What the house would sell for on the open market once it is fully repaired and updated to current buyer expectations for the neighborhood. It is the anchor for every cash offer, and it is derived from recent sales of comparable renovated homes nearby — not from what the house is worth today.
Why is a cash offer lower than my home's market value?
Because they measure different things. Market value assumes a repaired house, a full marketing period, a financed buyer, and commission and closing costs coming out the other side. A cash offer is after-repair value minus repairs minus the buyer's costs and margin, paid immediately with no fees, no repairs, and no contingencies. The correct comparison is not offer versus market value — it is offer versus your estimated net proceeds after everything is deducted.
What actually determines my home's value?
In rough order of weight: location and school attendance area, square footage and bedroom/bathroom count, lot size and usability, condition and age of major systems, permitted versus unpermitted square footage, recent comparable sales within about half a mile and the last three to six months, and current inventory and interest rates. In San Diego specifically, view, coastal proximity, and whether parking is off-street can move a number considerably.
How do I find comparable sales myself?
Look for closed sales — not active listings, which are asking prices — within about half a mile, in the last three to six months, similar in square footage within roughly 20%, same bedroom and bathroom count, and similar condition. Same school attendance area matters more in San Diego than most sellers expect. Three good comps beat twenty loose ones.
Does an appraisal tell me what my house is worth?
It tells you what one licensed appraiser concluded on one date, usually for a lender deciding whether to fund a loan. It is a useful data point and it is not the same as what a motivated buyer would pay. Appraisals also come in low often enough that renegotiation after a low appraisal is a routine part of financed sales.
Should I get a value before deciding to sell?
Yes, and before making repairs. The most expensive mistake in this whole process is spending $40,000 on renovations that add $25,000 of value. Knowing the three numbers first tells you whether prep work pays, and whether listing or a cash sale nets you more.
Is a free home valuation really free?
Ours is, with no obligation. Be careful generally: some free valuation tools exist to harvest your contact details and sell them to multiple agents or investors, which is why the phone starts ringing for weeks. A valuation should produce a number and an explanation, not a call list.
Valuations provided through this site are
estimates of opinion based on available data and stated condition. They are not appraisals and are not a
guarantee of sale price. Nothing on this page is legal, tax, or financial advice.