What matters most in former homes prices

What matters most in former homes prices comes to four factors: land, condition, permitted work, and the record. A former home is priced twice, once as land and once as a building. The land figure comes from the sales record. The building figure comes from what has been done to it and what can be proved about that work.

Buyers who confuse the two overpay for dirt and underpay for craft.

What to take away

The four price factors that set the number

Land. The lot is the part that cannot be replaced. Size, frontage, slope, view corridor, and zoning all sit in land value. Easements do as well. None change when the house is repainted.

As of 2026, land typically makes up 20% to 60% of a former home's price in U.S. markets. Coastal cities sit at the high end, rural areas at the low end.

Condition. Roof age, foundation type, window glazing, and mechanical systems are the expensive items. A buyer can price these from an inspection report, which typically costs $300 to $600. A seller prices them from what they have already spent.

A new asphalt shingle roof usually costs $5,000 to $12,000. A foundation repair runs $2,000 to $30,000. A new HVAC system costs $5,000 to $12,000. The range depends on region, size, and access.

Permitted work. Additions, conversions, and structural changes carry permits in most jurisdictions. Unpermitted work is a liability the buyer inherits, and lenders treat it accordingly. Permit fees for an addition typically run $500 to $5,000, and a contractor's letter or retroactive permit can cost more. The local building department can say what compliance would require.

The record. Recorded sales, listing history, and assessment files are the only figures a buyer can check without trusting anyone. A title search typically costs $200 to $500. A survey costs $400 to $1,000. An appraisal costs $500 to $800. Those costs affect net price, but they do not change condition.

How the sales record is read

Every jurisdiction keeps a sales or transfer record, and most publish it. The figure that matters is the recorded consideration on the deed, not the asking price on a listing site. Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com publish sold prices, but they take them from MLS and public records.

Those two numbers can differ by a wide margin. The gap is usually explained by concessions, fixtures, or a private arrangement the record does not show. In most U.S. markets, the recorded sale price is within 0% to 5% of the final asking price, but it can be 20% or more below it when concessions are large.

Assessment value is a third number. It is set for taxation on a cycle the assessor controls, and it lags the market by design. Treating an assessment as a market price is the most common error in this work. How the offices differ from one jurisdiction to the next is set out in finding the right office.

Where the building's own value lives

If the deed record prices land, four other bodies of evidence price the building. Permit and inspection files record work by job and date. A pre-purchase inspection costs $300 to $600, and a structural engineer costs $500 to $1,500. Survey and designation files describe buildings as buildings, researched and sourced.

Historic maps and atlases record footprint, material, and story count over successive editions. The way to read them comparatively is set out in reading historic map series.

The building itself carries physical evidence, read through junctions, materials, and ghost marks. That is the subject of reading interior phases.

The national documentation and designation record holds researched building descriptions. It is explained at the National Register database and how to search it. The criteria for a building's listing are at what listing means.

What a chain of title does not price

A recorded instrument establishes a legal relationship on a date. It is not a description of a structure, and it carries no opinion about condition.

The last row matters most. A legal description and a surveyed boundary are different things, and the difference between them is the whole subject of boundary law. Why this record exists and what it was built to do is set out in how property records work.

Comparing two former homes

Price per square foot is the standard shortcut and the standard trap. It only compares when the measurement convention matches: above-grade only, finished basement included, or measured to the exterior wall. Ask which convention produced each figure before subtracting one from the other.

For a worked comparison, hold the land value constant and vary one building item at a time. If lot A and lot B are comparable parcels, the difference between their sale prices is the market's opinion of the buildings. That difference, divided by the difference in measured area, gives an implied rate you can substitute with your own figures.

The former Versace Mansion, Casa Casuarina, sold at auction for $41.5 million in 2013. Those prices reflect land, condition, permitted work, and the record, not fame alone.

Common questions

Why is the assessment lower than the sale price?

Assessments are set for taxation on a cycle the assessor controls, and they lag the market by design. A recent sale can reset the assessment in some jurisdictions and not in others.

In most markets, assessed value is 80% to 100% of market value, but some states use fractional rates as low as 10%. Confirm the local rule with the assessor's office.

Does an unpermitted addition reduce the price?

It shifts risk to the buyer, and lenders and insurers price that risk. Some buyers walk; others discount for the cost of bringing the work into compliance. A licensed contractor or the local building department can say what compliance would require. A retroactive permit can cost $1,000 to $10,000 or more, depending on the work.

Can I find what a former home sold for?

Usually yes, through the county recorder, the assessor, or a published sales record. Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com also publish sold prices. What you will not find there is why the number was what it was. That comes from the condition and permit records, not the deed.

Does this site publish prices or transactions?

No. It publishes no prices, no sales, and nothing that would locate a private home. What is described here is how a body of public records is structured, not what any of them contains.