What determines "market value"?

Many sellers don't understand the value that comes from outside the home. The bricks and mortar are not what make value; rather, value is in the eye of the buyer. In most cases, the actual cost of the home is not the key to value. Today's key to value also goes beyond the old real estate maxim: Location, location, location.

Market value is also tied to several trends, chiefly:

- Economic conditions which reflect both national and community business conditions.
- National, state and/or local political activity that produces changes in tax laws and tax rates, sales regulations, zoning restrictions, reassessments or property, etc.
- Pressures of supply and demand, which create either a "buyer's market" when there are more sellers than buyers and home prices may drop, or a "seller's market" when there are more buyers than sellers, causing home prices to go up.
- Seasonal influences create a "buying season" and an "off-season," although this traditional trend has given way more and more to year-round selling.