32 Data Points. One Right Price.
How Do Realtors Price a House?
We price every Pittsburgh home using 32 data points, from comparable sales and price reduction history to lot grade, home systems, and municipality services. Here's exactly what we look at, and how the same research shapes the way we market your home.
WHY PRICING TAKES US HOURS
We Spend Hours
Pricing Your Home
When we tell other agents we spend hours pricing a home, they look at us like we're nuts.
Most agents we talk to say it takes 10 minutes or less to comp a home. In fact, my first brokerage trained us to hit a button, make a few quick adjustments, and be done in 5-10 minutes.
We passionately believe one of the reasons homes sit on the market is this lack of detail: poor pricing. For most agents, it's luck, not skill or strategy.
The Knox Team vs. A Typical CMA
32 Data Points
Behind Every List Price
A typical comparative market analysis (CMA) looks at two things: what similar homes sold for and whether yours is updated. Here's everything we look at before we recommend a list price. It's one piece of how we sell homes in Pittsburgh.
| Data Point | What We're Looking At | The Knox Team | Typical CMA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market Data | |||
| Comp sales prices | What similar nearby homes actually sold for, adjusted for every difference from yours. We drive by every comp, because listing photos don't show the hill or the power lines. | ✓ | ✓ |
| Comp list price vs. actual sale price | How far above or below asking similar homes sold, which shows how buyers are reacting to pricing right now. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Days on market analysis | How long similar homes took to go under contract, and whether the slow ones were overpriced. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Comp price reduction count & analysis | How many price cuts similar homes took and what they finally sold for. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Housing value trends | Whether values in your neighborhood are rising, flat, or falling. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Broader local market trends | Inventory, buyer demand, and interest rates across the Pittsburgh market. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Economic trajectory of the surrounding area | New businesses, development, and investment that shape where values are headed. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Lot & Exterior | |||
| Lot size | The size of your lot on paper. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Topography | How much of that lot you can actually use. A quarter acre that's half hillside can give you less yard than a flat eighth of an acre down the street. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Lot grade (slopes, stairs) | The climb from the street to your front door. In Pittsburgh, one side of a street can be level while the other has 38 steps, and buyers price that in. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Curb appeal | First impressions from the street, online and in person. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Outdoor amenities | Decks, patios, pools, and fenced yards. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Foundation integrity | Cracking, settling, or water issues that affect value and buyer confidence. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Parking factors | Off-street parking, driveway space, or street parking only. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Garage | Attached, detached, or none. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Interior & Systems | |||
| Interior condition & layout | Overall condition, updates, and how the home lives. | ✓ | ✓ |
| Total above-grade square footage | Finished living space above ground. Since 2022, Fannie Mae has required appraisers to leave finished and walkout basements out of square footage, which affects a lot of Pittsburgh hillside homes. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Floor plan flow & layout utility | How well the space works for the way people live today. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Quality of interior finishes | Flooring, counters, cabinets, and trim. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Built-in appliances & fixtures | Age and condition of what stays with the house. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Age of HVAC | How many years are left before a buyer has to replace it. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Condition of electrical panel | Capacity, age, and anything an inspector will flag. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Age of water heater | Another replacement buyers will factor in. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Deferred maintenance adjustments | Repairs a buyer will see and subtract from their offer. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Location & Community | |||
| Traffic noise levels | Busy roads, plus nearby commercial operations or power lines that buyers discount. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Neighborhood crime rates | Third-party crime data, used in pricing only. | ✓ | ✕ |
| School rankings | School performance, and how close and walkable the nearest schools are. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Commutability & access to public transit | Drive times to Downtown and major employers, plus access to the T and bus lines. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Proximity to shopping & dining | What's within a short drive or walk. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Municipality benefits | Allegheny County has 130 municipalities, and services like leaf and yard waste collection, rec centers, and parks vary from one to the next. | ✓ | ✕ |
| HOA factors | Fees, rules, and what they cover. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Community features | Pools, parks, dog parks, and recreation nearby. | ✓ | ✕ |
| Total data points | 32 | 2 | |
Pricing Research Becomes Marketing
The Same Research Builds Your Marketing.
This analysis isn't just about pricing your home. It's also our research for how we're going to market it.
When your home is a 5-minute walk to a park or community pool, that doesn't just add monetary value. It adds value to buyers. The problem? Most agents don't highlight these things. Some will put it on a page inside a packet of papers no one is reading. We put every benefit front and center, from leaf collection to Costco being nearby. See everything that goes into our listing marketing plan.
Municipality & Location
Front-And-Center
Benefits
Leaf collection, a nearby Costco, the park down the street. The perks we find while pricing go straight into your listing copy and property website.
Commute & Transit
Marketing Built
Around Your Location
Close to the T or an easy drive Downtown? We build your ads and listing copy around that advantage so the right buyers notice.
Lot & Exterior
Shot To Show
What Matters
A rare flat backyard on a Pittsburgh hill gets the drone shot. Whatever sets your home apart in the data gets the spotlight in your photos and video.
Real Estate Sucked. So we fixed it.
Real Good Neighbors
VIP Membership For Life
Most agents open a door or stick a sign in the yard. Our clients get Lifetime Members In Our Real Good Neighbors VIP Program, because we want to be there for you before, during, and after you home transaction - providing things other brokerages make you pay for.
It's the exclusive Knox Team client program: eleven benefits and counting that protect your investment, simplify your move, and keep working long after you have the keys. All included at no extra cost.
When you sell
- $75K Seller’s Shield coverage after you sell
- Seller's Home Warranty
- Home Warranty + Re-Key Service For Your Buyer
- Easy Exit Guarantee
- Listing Concierge
When you buy
- 1-year home warranty
- Free rekey service
- Love It or List It Free Guarantee
- Ai Home Search
After you move in
- Monthly giveaways
- Good Neighbors Meet Ups
- Discount portal
- AI-powered HomeHub
- Community Tool Shed: Free Tool Rental For Life (spring 2027)
- Free Notary services For Life (spring 2027)
1 Year Home Warranty
Coverage and peace of mind from day one.
$100 Rekey Credit
Move in secure, on us.
Private AI Home Search
Smarter matches. Your data stays yours.
Expert Negotiation
$100K+ saved for our buyers this year.
Real Good Neighbors VIP
Our clients get more than a sign in the yard and an open door.
Our exclusive client loyalty program with forever benefits. Buy and sell with us, and Real Good Neighbors VIP covers you on both sides of the move, then keeps going after you're settled in.
When you sell
- $75K Seller’s Shield coverage after you sell
- Seller’s home warranty
- Home warranty + rekey service for your buyer
- Easy Exit Guarantee
- Listing Concierge
When you buy
- 1-year home warranty
- Free rekey service
- Love It or List It Free Guarantee
- AI home search
After you move in
- Monthly giveaways
- Good Neighbors Meet Ups
- Discount portal
- AI-powered HomeHub
- Community Tool Shed: free tool rental for life (spring 2027)
- Free notary services for life (spring 2027)
Let's find the price to make you move
Ready To Talk About Selling Your Home?
Get a strategy tailored to your property, your timeline, and your goals, with no pressure. We don't even talk about signing a contract when we meet.
Get Your Free Valuation
No pressure. No obligation. Tell us a few details about your home, and we'll start crunching numbers and reach out to set up a tour to finalize them. No agent can price a home without seeing it. Beware any that do.
YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT PRICING A HOME
IN PITTSBURGH ANSWERED
Frequently Asked Questions
Most realtors price a house with a comparative market analysis (CMA). They pull recent sales of similar nearby homes and adjust for differences like size and updates.
We start there, then add 30 more data points, including list-to-sale price trends, price reduction history, lot topography and grade, the age of major systems, and municipality services. The goal is a list price that attracts the most buyers and holds up when the appraiser comes through. You can see all 32 data points in the table above.
A CMA, or comparative market analysis, is a report a real estate agent prepares to estimate what a home will sell for, based on recent sales of similar homes nearby. It's free, and it's what most agents use to set a list price.
The quality of a CMA depends on the work behind it. Some are generated in minutes from an automated tool. Ours takes hours, because we walk your home, drive by every comparable sale, and work through 32 data points before we recommend a price.
A CMA is prepared by a real estate agent to set your list price. An appraisal is prepared by a state-licensed appraiser following federal appraisal standards (USPAP). It's ordered by the buyer's lender after you accept an offer, and in Pennsylvania it typically costs a few hundred dollars.
The two should land close together. When they don't, it's usually because the list price ignored something the appraiser won't. One big one in Pittsburgh: since 2022, Fannie Mae has required appraisers to leave finished and walkout basements out of a home's square footage. We price with that in mind so a low appraisal doesn't derail your sale.
Location, size, and condition affect home value the most, measured against what similar homes nearby are actually selling for.
In Pittsburgh, a few factors matter more than most sellers expect. Lot grade and topography change how much usable yard you have and how many steps it takes to reach your front door. Services vary across Allegheny County's 130 municipalities. And the age of the roof, furnace, and water heater shows up fast in buyer offers.
It depends on who's doing it. Many agents generate a CMA in 5-10 minutes with an automated tool. We spend hours on every home: walking it, driving by the comparable sales, and working through all 32 data points before we recommend a price.
The most common reason a house isn't selling is price. If buyers aren't scheduling showings, or showings aren't turning into offers, the list price is usually out of line with what similar homes offer for the money.
Condition, photos, and marketing matter too. And a price cut doesn't always fix it, because a reduced home has already lost its new-listing momentum. That's why we put the time in up front. If your home sat on the market or your listing expired, we'll show you what the data says went wrong.
Yes. Most realtors will give you a free estimate of your home's value, and so will we, with no obligation. Ours includes a walkthrough of your home, because no agent can accurately price a house they haven't seen.
Start with our home value tool, or call 412-663-3325 to schedule your in-home consultation.
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Accessibility Statement
- knoxknowshomes.com
- October 22, 2026
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We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability. To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more. This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs. Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments. If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email [email protected]Screen-reader and keyboard navigation
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:- Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
- Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Disability profiles supported in our website
- Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
- Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
- Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
- ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
- Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
- Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments
- Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
- Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over 7 different coloring options.
- Animations – epileptic users can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
- Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
- Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
- Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
- Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.