Let me tell you something the real estate industry doesn’t want sellers to think about too hard.
Your house is probably not worth what Zillow says it’s worth. And it’s probably not worth what the comp on the corner says it’s worth either. Because the way comps work in 2026 is fundamentally broken — and the people getting hurt are the homeowners who actually spent money taking care of their houses.
Here’s what I mean.
A comp is a "comparable sale" — a house that sold near yours, around the same size, around the same age, that an agent or appraiser pulls up and says "this is what your house is worth." Simple, right?
Except it’s not simple at all. Because comps don’t actually compare houses. They compare addresses.
What the comp database doesn’t see
When a house sells, the MLS records the sale price, the square footage, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the lot size, and maybe a few photos. That’s basically it. Everything else — every dollar the seller put into that house — lives or dies based on whether the listing agent bothered to type it into the description.
Did the seller put a new roof on? Maybe it’s in the description. Maybe it isn’t.
New HVAC? Maybe.
Tankless water heater? Refinished hardwoods? New deck? Updated electrical panel? New windows? Renovated primary bath? Kitchen redone in the last three years? Maybe, maybe, maybe.
If the listing agent didn’t write it down, it doesn’t exist in the comp. It vanishes. The house sells for whatever it sells for, gets logged into the database as "3 bed, 2 bath, 2,100 sqft, $445,000" — and now your agent is pulling that house as a comp for your house, with no idea that the seller spent $90,000 in renovations in the two years before the sale.
You’re not comparing apples to apples. You’re comparing apples to a photograph of an apple from across the street.
The 25% number
Here’s the part that should make every seller furious.
The depreciable items in a typical house — roof, HVAC, water heater, deck, windows, flooring, major appliances, electrical, plumbing — represent roughly 25% of the home’s value.
Twenty-five percent.
Let that sit for a second.
If you’ve got a $400,000 house, that’s $100,000 worth of stuff that wears out, breaks down, and has to be replaced. And when you replace it, you’re putting real money — your money — back into that house. A new roof is $15,000 to $30,000. A full HVAC system is $10,000 to $18,000. A deck rebuild is $8,000 to $25,000. Refinished hardwoods are $4 to $8 a square foot. Kitchen renovation? Don’t even start.
A buyer who walks into a house with all that work already done is walking into a house that doesn’t need $100,000 of their cash over the next ten years. That has enormous value. Especially right now.
Why this matters more in 2026 than ever before
Most buyers right now are stretched. Rates are still in the 6’s. Insurance is up. Property taxes are up. People are putting every dollar they have into the down payment and the closing costs, and they’re crossing their fingers that nothing major breaks for a few years.
That buyer doesn’t have $150,000 sitting in savings to replace your roof, your HVAC, and your deck in year two. They literally cannot afford the "cheaper" house that needs work. They need the house where the work is already done.
So when a seller has spent the money — when they’ve replaced the roof, updated the systems, refinished the floors — the buyer getting a mortgage on that house is getting a massive, hidden benefit. They’re financing those improvements over 30 years at mortgage rates instead of paying cash or putting them on a credit card at 22% interest. That’s a huge win for the buyer.
And the seller deserves to get paid for that. Not at "comp value." At actual value.
What we actually do about it
This is exactly why we built the Duffy Listing Intelligence System.
When we list your house, we don’t just pull comps and call it a day. We document — in detail — every single dollar you’ve put into the house. Every system that’s been replaced. Every upgrade that’s been made. Every reason your house is not the same as the house that sold for $445,000 down the street, even though they look the same from the curb.
Then we build the case. To buyers. To buyer’s agents. To appraisers. To anyone who needs to understand that your house isn’t a comp — it’s a better house than the comp.
And here’s the part most agents will never do: we let you price for what your house is actually worth. Not what the lazy comp says it’s worth. We charge $500 to list your house this way, and we give it back to you at closing. We’ve got skin in the game. We don’t get paid for the listing — we get paid when your house sells at your price.
And it works. We sell houses over comp value all the time. Because they are over comp value. The comp was just wrong.
The takeaway
If you’ve spent real money on your house and you’re getting ready to sell it, do not let some agent pull up Zillow, run a CMA, and tell you what your house is worth based on three sales from last year that probably had nothing in common with yours.
Make them do the work. Make them prove they understand what you’ve put into the house. Make them defend a price that reflects your house — not the average house.
That’s what we do. And it’s why our sellers walk away with more.
For sellers: DUFFY is built to protect what you keep.
