Appraisal advice???

[dislal]

I need some advice on getting an appraisal on my home. Does anyone have any tips or tricks to make the place appraise higher? Where can we find a good appraisal, would you call a local realtor or what?

We may be forced to sell so I need it to appraise high! Thank you for any help.

 

[Bren's Mom]

I'm a little confused...why do you want an appraisal?

If you're thinking of selling, and want to know what you might get for your home if you put it on the market, you'll want to contact several recommended realtors and get them to give you a Fair Market Analysis. You'll need to take those, compare them, decide on a realtor and then choose a listing price. There is generally no charge for this, agents will do this for you because they want to get your business. DON'T just go with the highest amount!

If you sell the home and the buyer is getting a loan, their bank will request an actual appraisal. The buyer pays for that, not you.

If you're refinancing, your bank might ask for an appraisal and you usually will have to pay for that.

 

[disneyfans95]

I need some advice on getting an appraisal on my home. Does anyone have any tips or tricks to make the place appraise higher? Where can we find a good appraisal, would you call a local realtor or what?

We may be forced to sell so I need it to appraise high! Thank you for any help.

No magic bullet for this. Sounds like you are going to refi? Hard to tell by your post.

The appraiser will see through things like minor landscaping and a fresh coat of paint. (ie things a buyer might fall into)..

The appraiser will look at bones of your house, the neighborhood etc etc

 

[mster425]

Just posting to agree with disneyfans95- we just had our appraised for a refi

The only thing he commented on was the Corian countertop in the kitchen.

The rest was just square footage, # of bedrooms and baths- condition did not matter. There's little you can do to change it.

ETA: By "condition" I mean general cleanliness, landscaping, and paint. If there had been a huge hole in the ceiling or a tree felled on it, or something, it may have mattered.

 

[RitaE]

Ours liked that our roof was less than 5 years old - but I wouldn't go putting on a new roof in hopes of a higher appraisal.

Agree with the others, most lenders have a list of approved Appraisers they'll accept. If you pay for an appraisal now - the buyer may just have to get it redone anyway.

 

[allison443]

Just posting to agree with disneyfans95- we just had our appraised for a refi

The only thing he commented on was the Corian countertop in the kitchen.

The rest was just square footage, # of bedrooms and baths- condition did not matter. There's little you can do to change it.

ETA: By "condition" I mean general cleanliness, landscaping, and paint. If there had been a huge hole in the ceiling or a tree felled on it, or something, it may have mattered.

I agree with the above, we just an appraisal yesterday for a refinance. The appraiser said they consider everything to be in "average" condition unless it's really extreme one way or the other. He said it's mainly based on square footage, and number of bedrooms/bathrooms, and what similar sized houses are selling for.

Just want to add if you haven't been following your local real estate market, zillow.com has a listing of homes for sale.

 

[disneyfans95]

I agree with the above, we just an appraisal yesterday for a refinance. The appraiser said they consider everything to be in "average" condition unless it's really extreme one way or the other. He said it's mainly based on square footage, and number of bedrooms/bathrooms, and what similar sized houses are selling for.

Just want to add if you haven't been following your local real estate market, zillow.com has a listing of homes for sale.

I am gun shy with Zillow. Just from my exerience it has not been very accurate at all with my area here in NY. Others might have better luck with Zillow, so I can only speak for myself.

We tracked our house prior, afterwards and neighbors. What houses sold for were not even within 20% plus/minus of that Zillow was saying. Again, maybe our area just does not fit Zillow's model?

 

[terri01p]

 

[dislal]

I guess when we refinanced we were crazy because when the guy came over we just said " hey appraise it as high as you can for us" and he did...lol. We just had a local mom and pop place appraise it for us.

Maybe I will try this tactic, thanks

From what I can tell there is no quick fix other than making sure the house is as clean and neat as I can make it.

A little back story, the local power company is buying every house at the end of the road and we have also been approached to see if we would sell. So I kind of feel like I am being forced into it, because of what they are doing with the property will bring our property value down in the future. So I just thought when I have the appraisal done in the near future I could do something to make it more appealing.

 

[Microcell]

The last time I had my house appraised it was the height of the Mortgage Industry loaning to everyone and appraisers were more than willing to pad things to make houses look like they were worth more.

I say that so you know the circumstances, but our appraiser wanted to know everything we had done since we bought the house. He said that our kitchen remodel (which amounted to tiling the backsplash and re-covering the counter with a more updated formica) helped boost the price. My husband worked for Linens N Things and when they closed he bought the Slat wall and pegs etc.. and our garage looks like a Linens N Things did.. deep shelves, places to hang things Maple colored floor to ceiling shelves, and that helped boost the price. We had replaced a sink in the bathroom, and the appraiser noted that.

So I would clean it up and make it look good as new and point out everything you have done to update! It certainly can't hurt.

THe buyer may have an appraisal, but it seems like you should know what amount to accept based on your own research, which may include an appraisal!

 

[minnie1928]

A little back story, the local power company is buying every house at the end of the road and we have also been approached to see if we would sell. So I kind of feel like I am being forced into it, because of what they are doing with the property will bring our property value down in the future. So I just thought when I have the appraisal done in the near future I could do something to make it more appealing.

My grandmother had a similar situation about 10 years ago. Keep in mind, it might be worthwhile having an attorney on your side too. My grandmother's situation involved eminent domain, which is a little different, but she didn't accept what was being offered so she hired an attorney and they were able to negotiate a higher selling price.