A seller asks, "What should we list at?" The answer you give in that moment shapes the whole listing. A price that rests on clean, explainable math is much easier to defend than a number that feels right.
Here is a simple, transparent method for turning comparable sales into a list price range. It is not an appraisal, and your own judgment still sets the final price, but it gives you numbers you can show the seller line by line.
Step 1: Sort your comps by status
- Sold comps set value. They are what buyers actually paid.
- Pending comps support value, but the final price is not known yet.
- Active listings show your competition, not value.
- Expired or withdrawn listings show where the market said no.
Only sold comps go into the math. The others are context.
Step 2: Screen out comps that would distort the number
Leave a sold comp out of the math, and write down why, when:
- Its size differs from the subject by more than about 25%
- It is a different property type
- It was not a normal market sale: bank-owned, short sale, estate or auction, or a sale between family members
- Its price per square foot is far away from the others
Never drop a comp quietly. Showing the seller why a cheap bank-owned sale was excluded builds more trust than hiding it.
Step 3: Use the median price per square foot
For each remaining comp, divide the sale price by its square footage. Then take the median, not the average. One unusual sale can drag an average a long way, but it barely moves the median.
Example: four clean comps at $246, $254, $256 and $266 per square foot give a median of $255.
Step 4: Turn it into an indicated value
Multiply the subject's square footage by the median: 1,820 sq ft × $255 = about $464,000. Do the same with the lowest and highest comps to see the full band, here roughly $448,000 to $484,000.
Step 5: Place the subject and set a range
Look at how the subject differs from the comps: condition, updates, garage, lot size, beds and baths. Decide whether each difference pushes it toward the low or the high end of the band. Then set a range about 3–5% wide around that point, for example $455,000 to $473,000.
Resist adding an extra margin "for negotiation". Buyers compare your listing to the same sales you just looked at.
Step 6: Check what the market is telling you
The median sale-to-list ratio of your comps tells you roughly where offers will land. Active listings priced above your range that have been sitting much longer than the sold comps are evidence that pricing above the range is not working. Expired listings say the same thing more clearly.
When the seller wants more
If the seller's number is above your range, show the gap in plain numbers: how far above the indicated value it is, in dollars and percent, and how long the higher-priced actives have been sitting. If they still insist, agree in writing on a price review after a set period, with a reduction into the range if showings or offers are weak.
Doing it in minutes
To run the numbers right now, paste your comps into our free comps price calculator. If a listing has been sitting, the free price reduction calculator shows when it is time to talk price and which buyer search brackets a new price would reach. If you work with Claude, our Pricing Brief skill runs this whole method from your pasted comps: it builds the comp table with every exclusion explained, does the price per square foot math, sets the range with the arithmetic shown, rates its confidence, and writes plain-language talking points for the seller.
This article describes a comparative market analysis method. It is not an appraisal.