Define what the property actually competes with before selecting comparables, widen geography before widening time, and adjust for frontage, view and finish rather than square footage. Include withdrawn and expired listings, which show where the ceiling is and appear in no standard report.
In a conventional market a CMA is mechanical. At the top the inputs thin out and the method has to change, or you produce a number with false precision.
A comparative market analysis in a conventional market is largely mechanical. Find recent sales of similar properties nearby, adjust for differences, produce a range.
At the top of the market the inputs thin out and the method has to change. An agent who runs the same process on a property with three loose comparables produces a number with false precision, and sellers can tell.
Before selecting comparables, define what this property competes with.
Not everything in the zip code. The set of properties a buyer looking at this one would also consider. That may span a wider geography and a narrower type than a conventional search would suggest.
A waterfront property with a deep-water dock competes with other waterfront properties with deep-water docks, possibly across several neighborhoods. It does not compete with the larger house two streets inland, whatever the square footage says.
The most useful discipline available.
Rates, inventory and sentiment move faster than location does. A comparable two miles away last quarter is generally more informative than a neighboring property four years ago.
Where you must reach back in time, adjust explicitly for market movement and show the adjustment rather than burying it.
Square footage carries less weight at this level than almost any other factor, and agents who lead with price per square foot lose credibility with informed sellers.
What drives value: frontage and dock, view corridor and whether it is protected, lot size and whether it can be divided, elevation, privacy, level and recency of finish, and whether the property is genuinely turnkey.
Adjust for those explicitly, quantify each adjustment, and be prepared to defend every one.
The single biggest difference between a competent luxury CMA and a mechanical one.
Withdrawn and expired listings tell you where the ceiling is. A property similar to this one that sat for a year at a number and failed is a data point about the top of the range, and it appears in no standard report.
Include active listings too. They are the competition a buyer will actually see.
In markets where a meaningful share of property trades off-market, the public record understates both activity and price discovery.
Where you know of private transactions and can reference them appropriately, they improve the analysis considerably. Where you cannot, say so — a note that the visible record represents a partial picture is more honest than presenting it as complete.
A single number implies precision the data does not support.
Present a range, state what the top of it requires — a longer timeline, a particular buyer, a willingness to hold — and what the bottom of it buys, usually speed and certainty.
That framing gives the seller a decision rather than a verdict, and it is considerably more defensible three months later.
Every adjustment documented with its reasoning. Every comparable explained, including why some were excluded.
An analysis a seller can follow line by line is one they will hold to when a low offer arrives. One presented as a conclusion is one they will abandon at the first disappointment.
That is the practical test of a CMA at this level: not whether the number is right, but whether the seller can defend it themselves.
Define the actual competitive set first, widen geography before time, adjust explicitly for what drives value at this level, and include withdrawn and active listings alongside completed sales.
Because rates, inventory and sentiment move faster than location does. A similar property two miles away last quarter is usually more informative than a neighboring one from four years ago.
Because square footage carries less weight at this level than frontage, view, lot, elevation, privacy and finish. Informed sellers notice when an agent leads with the wrong metric.
Because they show where the ceiling is. A comparable property that sat for a year and failed at a given number is a data point about the top of the range, and it appears in no standard report.
A range, with what the top requires and what the bottom buys. A single figure implies precision the data does not support, and a range gives the seller a decision rather than a verdict.
A select network of the nation's most accomplished luxury real estate professionals.