Before you pick an asking price for your Richmond home, build one dated file for your home and each sale you compare it to. This is the simple method behind OwnRVA's Richmond comparable sales guide for home sellers. You lock down the address, parcel, property type, finished square footage, lot, age, condition, features, and the date you make your decision. You also record each sale's contract and closing dates, sale price, and where you found the information.
Use Richmond's assessment and mapping tools to find records, and use Virginia land records to confirm the documents are real. But do not lean on tax assessments to set your price. Tax assessments can be very wrong and misleading. They are not the same as market value. Keep tax, mapping, recording, listing, and appraisal information in separate groups so they never get mixed up.
One thing matters a lot: check the square footage of your home. If the square footage on record is wrong, it can throw off the whole value, sometimes in a way that hurts you as the seller. Confirm the real number before you compare anything.
Check every sale for a good match in physical features, legal details, buyers, timing, condition, and terms. Back up each adjustment with real market proof. Then reconcile a range instead of working backward from one price you wish for. Treat any OwnRVA experience, credential, or result as unverified unless current records support it. The goal is a clear file that you and your professionals can update when better information shows up.
What To Verify Before Deciding
- Your home's identity: exact address, parcel, legal description, property type, and confirmed square footage. Double-check the square footage, since a wrong number can skew the value.
- Your decision date: one clear date when you weigh the pricing range, kept separate from any assessment date.
- Sales you compare: exact parcel and address, contract and closing dates, sale price, and the date you looked up each record.
- Type of proof: closed sales, pending sales, and active listings labeled as different kinds of proof, never mixed together.
- Physical and legal match: lot, area, age, style, condition, features, rights, and rules matched to a source and date.
- Adjustments: backed by the market, with the observed difference, source, method, date, and the person responsible written down.
- Group separation: assessment, land-record, listing, closed-sale, and appraisal proof kept in five labeled groups.
- Named sources: Richmond Assessor, Virginia land records, city mapping, and Fannie Mae guides, each with lookup dates. A listing commission is fully negotiable, while transfer taxes are set by law and location.
Lock your home's identity and decision date
Richmond Assessor records and assessed values are tax tools. They are not a market analysis, an appraisal, or a price recommendation. Worse, they can be far off from what your home is really worth. Use them only as a dated record to confirm identity, then verify your home and every sale you compare by exact parcel, property type, physical and legal traits, condition, location, sale date, terms, and source. The city's old property-search page only tells you the old site is gone and points you somewhere new. It does not prove the new data is complete or current. Keep it as a routing note and verify every fact against current city, court, transaction, inspection, and title records.
Because assessments can be so misleading, never treat one as proof of current market value, a real comparable sale, your competitive spot, your home's condition, or a fair asking price. Keep each assessment date and purpose separate from your decision date. Then gather current closed-sale proof, active competition, differences between homes, and buyer response. A land-record index, deed image, or public-record silence is not proof of an arm's-length sale, a concession record, a title opinion, a condition report, or a full comparable file. Match records across the assessor, land records, settlement papers, title work, and inspection files, and send legal or title questions to the right professionals.
Fannie Mae's guidance on picking comparables gives the judgment to the appraiser. It is not your market analysis, a pricing formula, or an appraisal of your home. Use its checklist of physical, legal, and buyer traits as a careful screen while keeping the roles of seller, broker, appraiser, attorney, inspector, and title professional separate. Fannie Mae's adjustment guidance needs market support. It does not hand you Richmond dollar amounts or let you use fixed price-per-square-foot rules. For every adjustment, write down the observed difference, the market proof, the source, the method, the date, the uncertainty, and who did the work, instead of dropping in a handy rule-of-thumb number.
An appraisal framework, asking price, online estimate, tax value, sale price, price per square foot, old appraisal, pending sale, listing, or one nearby sale does not by itself prove current value or the price you should ask. Build a range from several verified records, name every source, and test how property differences, timing, condition, concessions, financing, and competition change things, without inventing private MLS facts. A map, parcel layer, zoning layer, or address pin does not prove legal parcel fit, condition, rights, terms, current value, or real comparability.
Start with your exact home and one clear decision date. Write down the street address, parcel number, legal-description reference, property type, finished square footage, lot size, age, style, features, known rights or rules, condition date, and the date you will weigh the pricing range. A comparison file falls apart when two similar-looking homes get joined without an exact identity match.
Use the City of Richmond Assessor of Real Estate as a dated identity route. Record the page you used, the lookup date, the parcel numbers, the assessment date, and anything that needs follow-up. Richmond's real-estate tax and assessment page shows the assessment framework and past assessed values. Remember the purpose and date, do not treat the result as today's price, since assessments can be badly off.
The city's old property-search page now says the former site is gone and sends you to a new route. Keep that page only as a routing note. Do not treat the redirect as proof that the new data is complete or current, and do not read a parcel, transfer, condition, or value fact into it.
Add Richmond's interactive mapping tools to confirm location and spot identifier conflicts. A parcel layer, zoning layer, or nearby shape is a research route, not proof of legal identity, condition, rights, terms, value, or comparability.
The Richmond seller asking-price evidence guide walks through a companion pricing-file workflow. Use it to organize your decision without importing any unverified fact.
Build the first Richmond sale pool from exact records
Build a broad first pool so you do not just pick sales that support the answer you want. For every candidate, capture the exact parcel and address, property type, contract and closing dates, sale price, source, and the date you looked up each record. Keep closed sales, pending sales, and active listings labeled as different kinds of proof.
Use Virginia's Secure Remote Access to Land Records to find available records and confirm document identity and timing. Save the circuit court, document reference, parties, date, and any access limits. A deed or index result does not prove an arm's-length sale, a concession, title quality, condition, or comparability.
Fannie Mae's sales comparison approach guidance describes closed sales, pending sales, and listings along with named sources, verification, analysis, and reconciliation. Use it as a habit for good documentation, not as permission to invent private MLS facts or treat a listing as a closed sale.
Keep a rejection log. If you drop a candidate, say why: identity mismatch, wrong property type, wrong location, wrong buyer group, bad date, condition, legal traits, odd terms, missing verification, or another real difference. A rejected sale still shows how you applied your screen.
Richmond seller comparable-sales evidence matrix
| Evidence group | Exact match fields | Official source | What it can support | What it cannot decide | Follow-up owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your home's identity | Address, parcel, legal description, property type, square footage, decision date | Richmond Assessor and mapping | A clear home record and location context | Condition, legal rights, current value, asking price | Seller, broker, surveyor, attorney, appraiser |
| Sale you compare | Parcel, contract and closing dates, price, property type | Assessor, land records, sales-comparison sources | Finding sales, timing, document identity | Arm's-length status, concessions, condition, comparability | Broker, appraiser, title professional, transaction records |
| Physical and legal match | Lot, area, age, style, condition, features, rights, rules | Fannie Mae selection framework and city maps | A steady screen for real substitutes | A market analysis, home appraisal, legal conclusion | Broker, appraiser, inspector, surveyor, attorney |
| Adjustments | Time, condition, concessions, financing, location, method | Fannie Mae adjustment framework | Market-backed analysis and documented reconciliation | Richmond dollar amounts or rule-of-thumb adjustments | Appraiser, broker, seller |
| Pricing range | Adjusted results, active competition, uncertainty, decision date | Complete verified comparison file | A documented range and decision record | Guaranteed sale price, buyer response, appraisal outcome | Seller, broker, appraiser |
Screen physical, legal, and buyer fit
Use the same screen on every sale that survives. Fannie Mae's comparable-sales guidance says the appraiser picks the right comparables and looks for similar physical and legal traits and appeal to the same buyers, without needing identical homes. Use those questions to organize your work while the appraiser keeps their own role.
Compare property type, design, age, square footage, room count, lot, location, view, parking, extra spaces, condition, renovation date and quality, use, rights, rules, and other features buyers notice. Match each fact to its source and date. When you cannot verify condition or a feature, mark it unknown instead of assuming it matches.
Being close by is only one factor. Use the city map to confirm location, then explain whether buyers for your home would really consider the other one. A nearby sale can serve a different type of buyer, and a farther sale can share stronger physical, legal, and buyer traits. Your file should show that reasoning without claiming a set distance.
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