Every seller I meet has already looked up their home online and seen a number. Sometimes the number is close. Sometimes it is off by enough to cost real money in either direction. The problem is not that the websites are lazy. It is that an algorithm cannot walk your block.
A comparative market analysis, a CMA, is how an agent actually prices a home. Here is what goes into mine and what the finished product should tell you.
What a CMA is, in plain terms
A CMA compares your home against similar homes that recently sold, are currently for sale, or were listed and failed to sell nearby. Sold homes show what buyers actually paid. Active listings show your competition. Expired listings show what the market rejected, which is often the most useful signal of the three.
The skill is in choosing the right comparables and adjusting them honestly. In Miami that is harder than it sounds, because our streets change character fast. A renovated house on a quiet street and a similar house backing onto a busy road are not the same product, even with identical floor plans.
Where Miami pricing actually moves
When I build a CMA here, these are the factors that move the number most:
- Condition and renovations, with kitchens, bathrooms, and roofs counting most. Miami buyers pay for done, not for potential.
- Insurance realities. The age of the roof and whether the home has impact windows change what a buyer will pay, because they change what the buyer will spend every year.
- Flood zone and elevation. Two blocks apart can mean a different zone and a different monthly cost for the next owner.
- Condo factors. The building's financial health, reserves, and any upcoming assessments matter as much as the unit itself right now.
- The block itself. Schools, noise, what is being built across the street. An algorithm sees a radius. I see the street.
What the finished CMA should tell you
A good CMA does not hand you one magic number. It gives you a defensible range and a strategy conversation:
- The range your home should sell in, based on evidence you can read yourself.
- Where in that range to list, which depends on your timeline and how much attention the price will generate in the first two weeks.
- What is competing with you right now, and how your home stacks up against it honestly.
- What the expireds tell us. If similar homes failed to sell at a certain number, that number is information, not a target.
The first two weeks on market are when your home gets its best attention. Price it right at the start and that attention becomes offers. Chase the market down with cuts later and buyers read the listing as tired. That is why the CMA conversation happens before the sign goes up, not after.
What I need from you to build one
To do this properly I need to see the home, or at least know its real condition, what has been updated and when, the roof age, and anything a buyer's inspector will find anyway. Surprises do not help either of us. The more honest the inputs, the more accurate the range, and the fewer surprises at the negotiating table.
The bottom line
An online estimate is a starting point for curiosity. A CMA is a pricing strategy built from evidence by someone accountable for the result. If you are thinking about selling, even a year out, get the real number first. I build these for Miami homeowners at no cost, and the conversation about strategy that comes with it is usually worth more than the number itself.
