Purchasing
- Your first home
- Your next home and move
- An investment property
- A vacation home
Refinancing
- To tap your home equity
- To save money
- To avoid rate increases
- To lower monthly payments
Home Equity
- Loans and lines of credit
- Finance major expenses
- Consolidate Debt
- Invest
Getting a home appraised before the sale
The home appraisal is a very important part of buying a home, selling a home and just plain owning a home.
Appraisals have also come under scrutiny lately since many are finding the appraisals they received a few years ago are very inflated, and they actually own more on their mortgage than their home is really worth.
There are a few important things to remember before you get your home appraised in preparation for a sale. Getting a good and accurate appraisal is one of the keys to selling a home successfully.
The article, “Five tips for getting your home appraised before selling,” by Amy Hoak of The Wall Street Journal’s Marketwatch, gives some vital information on the appraisal process.
It is required that you get a home appraised when you buy a home, and it is recommended that you get it appraised before you sell so you can get a good idea of what to list it as.
“Price your home incorrectly and it could mean a long stay on the market, a final selling price lower than what the house is worth or both. That's why some homeowners are electing to pay $300 to $400 for an appraisal before putting their homes on the market, said Alan Hummel, past president of the Appraisal Institute and chief appraiser for St. Paul, Minn.-based Forsythe Appraisals LLC.”
Real estate agents often do their own appraisals, but the advantage of having an independent appraiser come in is you get a fresh un-biased opinion on the value of your home.
The appraiser takes a look at the house from a visual perspective, just as a potential buyer would.
“The appraisal also will analyze the health of the local real estate market, giving homeowners more personalized expectations for selling their home -- a feature especially important with the plethora of national news stories generalizing the real estate market, Hummel pointed out.”
There are a few things you should now about the appraisal process that will help you in the long run. Knowing what is inside the appraisal report. Normally this includes details about the house and the surrounding neighborhood, and also an evaluation of the area’s real estate market.
Knowing how an appraisal is developed is also quite helpful. “Appraisals are opinions of value, and residential real estate appraisals compare your home with similar homes that have sold. Remember, an appraisal is not the same as a home inspection. Inspections look for physical imperfections in the home, making sure it is structurally sound and so forth.”
You should also know what to look for in the report before you sell and focus on the negative adjustments. These could be a good checklist of things to improve or repair before you sell.
Also, getting an appraisal before your home hits the market is strongly recommended.
“The fresh appraisal will help accurately price the home and ensure it will eventually appraise for your asking price at the time of the sale. Sellers are sometimes shocked when their house appraises below the asking price, which could cause a deal to fall through or for the seller to be forced to reduce the home's price.”