Hello Joanna
Appraisers and GOOD real estate BROKERS use "comparables." A comparable is a home with the same or similar square footage, built around the same year as yours, preferably in the same neighborhood, preferably built by the same builder which has SOLD within the last 6 months.
So you can do it yourself by going to your county auditor and looking up what your neighbors have sold for recently. OR you can hire a LICENSED appraiser for $300 or so. OR you can have a KNOWLEDGABLE BROKER do a CMA (comparable market analysis).
Now is not the time to rely on rookie agents, or well meaning friends, or banks or LIST PRICES.
This is a good start. Let me know if you need more explicit info.
Best of luck!

Joanna,

If you are seeking accurate information to support your willingness to avail yourself to accurate pricing there are a couple of choices.

You can pay an appraiser $300 to $400 for a professional appraisal or you can contact a real estate professional for a FREE comparative market analysis. They should pretty much use the same information to generate the numbers you are looking for.

This is a great time to put your home on the market...with the "first time buyer incentive" program in place until December 1, 2009 a rebound in home sales is expected. Just heard that last month Buffalo had its highest number of home sales in the past 18 years. Now that's "HOT."

Selling success is often determined by "pricing it right" from the beginning.

Best wishes,
The Eckler Team

Joanna the best way to find out your current value is to have a Realtor® do a CMA on your property. I would also ask for an absorbtion rate on the area to try to figure a reasonable expectation on how long your home would be on the market. Good luck and this is a good time to move up in value if that is your intention.