CMAs are only as good as the information in them. A reader wants to know if she can get one for free. What she doesn't know is the information won't help her meet her goals.

C.W. writes Realty Times: Can I get a free CMA from an agent or anyone without placing my home on the market or signing with an agent?

It will probably take about 5 months for me to actually to do start the selling process, but in the meantime I would like to know where I stand with other homes in the area. Thanks, CW

Realty Times responds:

In most states a CMA, otherwise known as a comparable market analysis, is given complimentary to prospective or existing clients. Agents can't sell them currently, but with governmental pressure on real estate agents to "unbundle" their services, they may be able to soon, pending changes in state law. It's important to note that a CMA is a tool, but only one in an agent's toolbox. CMAs aren't appraisals by lenders, nor are they broker's price opinions. They are support documents that help an agent and seller understand recent neighborhood trends to determine a market price at which the home will sell. In other words, the CMA doesn't choose the price -- the homeowner and agent choose the price, based on the information.

CMAs aren't intended as free tools for sellers who want to market their own homes. Using the market knowledge, experience and time of a real estate agent without compensating them is a lousy thing to do, although that certainly happens. But Karma has a way of catching up with people like that -- those are the ones who typically overprice their homes, can't sell them, end up taking a bigger discount, and clearing far less than they would have with an agent.

For that reason, CMAs are fairly tightly controlled, presented at listing presentations or at substantive buyer's meetings, and taken away if the agent doesn't get the listing or a commitment from the buyer. Why give free information to put yourself out of business? Some agents are generous with CMAs, but if they are, it's a sure bet they didn't spend much time preparing it. In fact, some agent productivity software can spit out a so-called CMA in a few seconds.

What you want is a true in-depth market analysis, not a quick fix tool. A CMA can be a very personal document designed to help you understand the competition, yet it is done without destroying the agent's relationship with other agents, or their buyers and sellers. It's simply a compilation of homes for sale and those that have sold in a given area, without including your home for sale in the mix.

That said, a CMA can be rendered worthless in minutes. All it takes is the sale of a property, and all the variables change. A good agent will occasionally produce a fresh CMA for a client, to track how the market is changing, because it changes all the time.

If you are planning to sell your own home without the services of an agent, let me caution you. "Unrepresented sellers often do not understand the complexity, range and timing of tasks they will have to perform if they don’t use a professional," says the National Association of Realtors (NAR.) For sale by owner sellers have dropped from an all-time high of 20 percent in 1985 to 12 percent of home sellers in 2006. You may wonder why, in this age of Internet marketing with free classified sites and other sites clamoring for free home listings, that sellers are less often choosing to market their homes themselves.

The big reason is profits. According to NAR, sellers who use a real estate professional make 16 percent more on the sale of their home than do sellers who go it alone. These numbers are easy for NAR to track -- they simply get their local association affiliates to compile sold data from public records, and they extrapolate the homes sold by professionals from the homes sold without one. They compute the prices and voila -- agent-represented sellers do better.

The short answer is yes, you can get a free CMA, but the long answer is the CMA you have will be worthless to you in five months. If you are using a CMA to determine what your home is worth on the open market, you might be disappointed in your own interpretation because you don't know why one home sold for more than another, and might make the mistake of inflating your home's value against another. Be careful.

Realty Times suggests interviewing several real estate agents. Be honest about your goals to sell in five months. Ask them what you can do right now to improve the prospects of selling your home in terms of repairs, updates or staging. Keep in mind that nearly 90 percent of home sellers choose to list with a Realtor. Maybe you just haven't met the right Realtor yet. Don't tar the whole profession with what you read in the press, or your fears that their commissions are too high, or whatever reason you have for hesitating to contact a Realtor. Keep in mind that if Realtors rely on referrals to build their business. It's not in their best interests to do a poor job for you.

Published: January 2, 2007

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.