Impress Your Appraiser With These Action Items
The home appraisal is an essential part of any real estate transaction as it solidifies the value of the property while justifying the price that is being paid. Once you agree to a buyer’s offer to purchase, their mortgage lender will enlist a third party company to perform the appraisal. Recent comparable sales as well as a visit will be completed on your home to review it for many factors. Here is a helpful checklist to consider ahead of time so that your home receives its best review.
Investigate Property Value
Before the appraisal is arranged it is a good idea to get an estimated value of what your home is worth and you can do this in a couple of ways. You should be able to perform some online research of recently sold homes nearby that are similar to yours in size and location. Additionally, when your agent first listed your home they should have given you a CMA. This will have a home value in it along with some recent comps to support it. You may go as far as printing a few comps out on your own to hand to the appraiser that are most like your home.
Allow For Easy Access
Make sure that the appraiser has access to every part of your home including basements, attics, closets, garages, separate dwellings and storage areas.
Home Fact Sheet
For any benefits or updates that are not crystal clear, create a fact sheet and list things out. These items may include major improvements or upgrades, new systems with warranties, any homeowner’s association fees or info, nearby school info or other external benefits.
Complete Minor Repairs
You will want the home to be in perfect condition and chances are it may already be very close to it if you recently listed it for sale. If not, address things like missing pieces of trim, broken doors, peeling paint or anything else that needs fixing as appraisers will notice these things.
Cleanliness
The same concept as repairs applies to keeping the house clean. If you recently got your home into perfect condition to list it on the market for sale, then your home should already be pretty clean. Make sure it is still in exceptional condition for the appraiser just as it was for the photographer. Appraisers will understand if you have started packing however so you don’t have to worry too much about that.
Restrict Pets
Similar to having full access that we spoke about earlier, be sure pets are secured and don’t restrict the appraiser from entering any rooms or important areas. Take dogs for a walk or confine them to crates to keep them out of the way.
Copy of Report
Appraisers can make mistakes so request a copy of the report so that you can review for accuracy. Sometimes a measurement could be off, comps may not be the best ones for one reason or another but you can ask your agent for assistance on some of these items to review if you find any flaws.
