A home appraiser visit is an inevitable part of selling your home. Even if your buyer is willing to pay what you ask for and loves the place, the lender will still require a target third party, in the form of a professional appraiser, to stop by the house to determine its value. The evaluation process takes an average of seven to 10 days. The appraiser visits the property and spends an hour or two inspecting the interior and exterior of the home, measuring square footage and evaluating the features and fixtures of the home.
The appraiser also compares the home to other similar homes recently sold in the neighborhood (also known as comps). After performing the physical inspection and executing the compensations, the appraiser writes an evaluation report. The amount of time the entire process takes depends on the complexity of the assessment and the evaluator's workload or schedule. Most people are surprised to learn what appraisers are really looking at when determining the value of a real property.
Appraisers hired for a mortgage transaction with a conforming loan are chosen from a group of qualified appraisers at random. While conducting the assessment, the appraiser will take pictures of all the rooms in the house, the garage, and the exterior of the house. When all goes well, the home appraisal is just another box to check on a closing checklist. Unfortunately, if your surrounding area has experienced recent distressed sales, that can lower the appraised value of your home.
If your home is extremely outdated and hasn't been updated in several years, or decades, the appraiser will consider it. There are things that can hurt the appraisal of a home and make your appraisal lower than you expected. When refinancing a mortgage, if the appraised value places the equity in your home at less than 20%, you'll need to pay private mortgage insurance (PMI). If the appraiser expects a percentage of the home's value to be paid, it may be a sign of an unethical practice, which should be avoided.
The appraiser takes the characteristics, age, and condition of your home, and then compares it to other similar homes in the area and the price for which it is sold. Whether you're selling or buying, you need to learn how the outcome of the home appraisal affects the sale. Being aware of market conditions in your area and knowing if your home has one of these common problems can at least help you avoid shock and know what to expect when the appraisal is done. As you examine your home, your appraiser will discuss the overall maintenance of your property, any improvements, such as renovated kitchens or an additional master bathroom, that you have made, and the number of rooms in your home.
Unfortunately, rebuttals aren't always effective, as appraisers don't usually change the valuation of a home. While you can't change the location of the property, you can do something about other factors that could lower the home appraisal. The exterior appeal, lot size, & neighborhood compliance are obvious to the appraiser when they drive into the neighborhood, stop in front of their house.