Home appraisals and how to get the highest value

A few simple steps will help you get the most out of your property appraisal

The real estate market is a complicated one, and selling a house is far more difficult than selling a used lawn mower. There are numerous legalities to deal with and buyers and lenders are not necessarily going to agree on the value of your property just because you say so. It might be nice to arbitrarily throw a $500,000 price on a house you have for sale, but if you live in a neighborhood of $125,000 homes, you are likely to just draw laughs from prospective buyers.

While sites such as Zillow, RealtyTrac, Domania, and HomeSmart can usually provide approximate property values, they cannot yet determine a value with any real amount of accuracy. For that, you must go another route.

In order to accurately determine the value of your home, the best results come from a property appraisal. A professional appraisal is a report generated by someone who evaluates property values for a living. He or she will inspect your property, make note of its size, the number of bedrooms, the general condition, any defects and any out-of-the-ordinary amenities that it might have. Then the appraiser will compare your property with the price of homes in your neighborhood that have recently sold to determine an accurate value for your home.

It isn’t really necessary to have an appraisal done to set a price for selling; most real estate professionals can determine a price based on the above factors without an appraisal. When you might want to have an appraisal done is when you wish to drop your private mortgage insurance or when you have a dispute with a local government entity over property taxes. Under those circumstances, a formal appraisal will probably be necessary.

An appraisal usually costs between $300-500, depending on where you live. While the appraiser may not spend much time on your property, there is some homework to be done in order to complete the process. It may take anywhere from several days to several weeks before you receive the results of your appraisal.

Here are some things you may wish to consider in order to get the highest value when you have your property appraised:

• Make your house look its best - A large part of the process is how the house looks. It may be nice and large, but if the weeds in the yard are waist deep and it hasn’t had a coat of paint in 15 years, it won’t appraise well. The same may be said for clutter in the yard or in the house. Make it look good and it will make a good impression on the appraiser. Remember, your house is being compared to others in the same neighborhood. Show it off.
• Assist the appraiser - Don’t get in the way, but make sure you say with them while they examine your property. You will be there to answer questions and to point out things that otherwise might be missed.
• Make a list of features - Appraisers are busy, and after a while, homes tend to run together in their minds. Prepare a list ahead of time of features that make your home unique. If you have unusual features like a professional cooktop, a home theater or a swimming pool, be sure to mention them on the list. That will help the appraiser later when he or she is preparing the final documents.

It’s not hard to get the most out of your appraisal. It just takes a little work.