Home Appraisal

[Club'nBabySeals]

What sort of things does an appraiser look at when they come out to your home? Are there any tips or tricks to maximize the appraisal?


We're refinancing, in case that makes a difference.

 

[Midnightrider]

What sort of things does an appraiser look at when they come out to your home? Are there any tips or tricks to maximize the appraisal?


We're refinancing, in case that makes a difference.

generally, they look at the square footage and the recent comparable sales in the neighborhood. If your place is average, it will appraise right at what the others did. If it is a Sh hole, it will be less.
I guess what i am saying is, try to make a good impression, but dont go overboard fixing stuff unless it really makes the place look bad.

The guy who did mine last time asked me what i wanted it to appraise at, and the end # was with in 5K.

 

[jenbengen]

What sort of things does an appraiser look at when they come out to your home? Are there any tips or tricks to maximize the appraisal?


We're refinancing, in case that makes a difference.

I'm not sure what the trick is. Every house we have purchased miraculously appraised at exactly the sell price. Just make sure you fix any obvious structural problems. Not much else you can do, I don't think (well, unless your house is full of dog poo and disgusting...then I can't help ya!).

 

[SamSpade]

Make it look presentable and clean. Make the lawn and property more presentable. And check their work - we had an appraiser do a couple of things just plain WRONG. Most of his data he did on stuff he took right off the web without even looking at the house. Example - our house has an addition built over the garage which was done over ten years ago - no mention of it on the web - and it's 500 square feet. Our downstairs is fully finished and ground level - the appraiser designated it as a "basement" and thus was just "basement".

He got the number of baths wrong. Because two bedrooms and a bath were downstairs, he didn't count them. We ended up with an appraisal for less than the house would have been worth on any market. We even checked one of those websites for housing value - way below what any of them indicated.

So we argued with them - and won. But we had to be persistent.

 

[missthang]

Appraisal are looking at the home compared to your neighbors. Clean your house and make any repairs or upgrades this will help with higher /best price.

 

[High EGT]

Want to know your homes current assessment? Check this link and follow the instructions.

http://sdatcert3.resiusa.org/rp_rewrite/

 

[Tina2001aniT]

Want to know your homes current assessment? Check this link and follow the instructions.

http://sdatcert3.resiusa.org/rp_rewrite/

Those assesments are usually way off the homes actual sales price/appraisal..

 

[High EGT]

Those assesments are usually way off the homes actual sales price/appraisal..

Agree but are valuable as a base line for fare market value

 

[Chasey_Lane]

Hello im in the financial business and would love to help you get the most for your home and the best rate..just private message me and we can go from there.

I'm interested in hearing what you have to say, too. Couldn't you just lay it on the line...for all of us? :shrug:

 

[somdrenter]

Hello im in the financial business and would love to help you get the most for your home and the best rate..just private message me and we can go from there.

http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/20050415_appraisalfraud.htm

Reaction has been swift and telling after a recent "Home Insecurity: How Widespread Appraisal Fraud Puts Homeowners At Risk" report released by public policy think tank, New York City-based Demos.

The study said more than half, 55 percent, of all appraisers have reported feeling pressures from lenders or brokers to overstate property values.

 

[oldnavy]

He got the number of baths wrong. Because two bedrooms and a bath were downstairs, he didn't count them. We ended up with an appraisal for less than the house would have been worth on any market. We even checked one of those websites for housing value - way below what any of them indicated.

This could be that (as we have been told in our case) unless the "bedroom" has a window which can be used to escape in case of a fire, then it's really not a "bedroom" and can't be classified as such. If it's in the basement, probably does not have a window...
We have the same issue, fully finished basement with two "bedrooms" and full bath, but the bedrooms can't be listed as such by RealEstate agents. If you list it as FSBO, you can say whatever you want in the listing, but the official sales document still won't count those basement bedrooms as such...which can be good for tax purposes.

Now, before anyone flames me, I'm not an expert, but only stating what was told to us by our inspector and confirmed by our closing lawyer.

 

[SamSpade]

This could be that (as we have been told in our case) unless the "bedroom" has a window which can be used to escape in case of a fire, then it's really not a "bedroom" and can't be classified as such. If it's in the basement, probably does not have a window...
We have the same issue, fully finished basement with two "bedrooms" and full bath, but the bedrooms can't be listed as such by RealEstate agents. If you list it as FSBO, you can say whatever you want in the listing, but the official sales document still won't count those basement bedrooms as such...which can be good for tax purposes.

Now, before anyone flames me, I'm not an expert, but only stating what was told to us by our inspector and confirmed by our closing lawyer.

See, that was just the thing - it's more appropriately "downstairs" than "basement". I think they call a house like ours a "split foyer" - the front door open on a split staircase with half going up, and half going down.

But you have to climb a half staircase just to GET to the front door - which makes it a full flight to the top floor. All of the "basement" doors are straight walk out onto level ground, and every single room has at least one window - some with two - that look out straight at eye level with someone on the outside.

Admittedly, there are other houses on our street with the same design but with the ground halfway to the window - if there IS one - and no door anywhere. That's because those houses were built on a grade.

Now that's all past - but I'd use this experience as reason to question the first appraisal given, because they don't always get it "right".