Author Login | Popular Articles | RSS Feeds | Sitemap

Home | Finance | Real-estate


What to Expect at Home Appraisals

By: Robert Rogers

Whether you are selling your home or refinancing, you'll probably getting a call from an appraiser. Their job is to determine the fair market value of your home based on guidelines set out by the Federal National Mortgage Association. This is not the same as a competitive market analysis that many real estate brokers perform, sometimes referred to as "comps". The professional appraiser does an in depth analysis of you home's condition, additional features as compared to other similar homes, and location.

They start by looking at you neighborhood and find comparable homes that may have sold recently, characteristics of lifestyles, income level in the area, average age, and surrounding home values. So if you home has 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a 2 car garage on a half acre of land, they will try to find a similar home in a nearby neighborhood. Sometimes they will extend their search and compare homes within the same school district when it is a known factor that affects the value of a home.

Once they find comparable properties, they will make some adjustments. Sometimes they will add value to your home based on the landscaping, external features such as a fenced back yard, or maybe there is view of the ocean. Numerous items may be added or subtracted from your home's value. Living space, numbers of rooms, sales in the last 120 days, usable land, and many other factors are considered. Rest assured it is not an entirely subjective process, but rather methodical and universal.

They don't consider your choice of wallpaper and curtains. They don't care if there are 200 toys laying in the family room or that you didn't make you bed. Of course it doesn't hurt to tidy up a bit, but it's not really a factor in determining the appraised value of your home. They are there to measure boundaries, going to each level in your home and looking in all the rooms, and taking more measurements. A few pictures are taken only for the appraiser's folder which will go in a file.

Normally, if you are buying a home or refinancing, you can let the lender know if you prefer a particular appraiser or company. You can ask any real estate broker if they can recommend someone to you as well. A qualified appraiser is licensed by the state and will cost from $150 to $500 or more depending on the size of the home.

If you are selling your home, the buyer normally pays for this. However, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get an inexpensive online appraisal. You can find one of the better instant online appraisal companies at Online Home Appraisals.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
Robert Rogers is a writer in the Washington DC area. For more free tips and resources, visit his website Home Appraisals Online

| Print | Ezine Ready | |

Recent Real-Estate Articles

  • 7 Reasons To Live In Fayetteville NC By: Samuel Huntington - 1 - Fayetteville, NC is publicly dedicated to doing everything they can to support the military servicemen/women and their families that enjoy life within their bounds. Fayetteville has a very strong military heritage of which they are very proud.
  • Steps to Becoming a Homeowner By: Karrie Rose - So you've considered buying your own home. You have the down payment, and a decent job. Sounds great - what's holding you back? With most people, fear of the unknown keeps them from taking the first steps toward home ownership.
  • Finding the Perfect Property to Rent or Buy By: Graeme Coyne - Anyone who has ever house hunted will be familiar with the feeling of entering a property and just knowing that it is the perfect home for you; the feeling that this is 'the one'.
  • Phuket Property | Property Phuket | Property in Phuket By: Sanjeev Sharma - Jumeirah construction has earned fame and reputation of being singular of its kind to have raised magnificent masterpieces. After the long-lasting success in Dubai, Thailand property has been taken care of by jumeirah. Property in phuket and other private islands as a whole have been built under sole supervision of jumeirah construction.
  • The Forecasts Of Famous Experts In Area Of Real Estate Market By: Mathew Petrenko - For a huge amount of people nowadays it is not so simple to buy apartments kiev, but there is an opportunity to rent some that is quite reasonable. Such operations are performed quite frequently these days, so that is not a complexity to find apartment on definite amount of money.
  • Book Moving Truck Rentals On Line By: Gnubas - This piece of writing about moving truck rentals will take an amateur's sight at this entertaining subject. It will give you the information that you need to know most when it comes to what you need when you are moving. Taking up a new residence is really an exciting time.
  • How to fix the mortgage business By: D.C. Fawcett - Mortgage is the term used to mean an agreement which allows someone to borrow money from a bank or organization in order to buy his needs. The mortgage is a security for the loan that a lender provides the borrower.
  • Holiday Gifts for Homeowners Who Have Everything By: Karrie Rose - Gifts For the Cook in the House Create a Personalized Cookbook: For as low as $19.95 at TasteBook.com you can create a personalized cookbook. Select from among hundreds of recipes, add personal dedications, photos and even your own recipes to create a custom cookbook.
  • Home Sale Safety: Protect Your Home, Your Agent and Yourself By: Ted Guarnero - Selling your home requires that you open your house to strangers and allow them access to areas that would normally only be open to trusted friends and family. Unfortunately, we can't trust everyone, even those who "look okay".
  • BUILD WITH A GOOD TASTE IN MUSIC By: Compete Infotech - You never would like to cut down the old-tree in which you are staying. Sounds amazing aren’t it? – No, it isn’t dear. It’s always something really special. Here, I am talking about the exclusive buildings that you habitat in the lap of nature.

Search Ebay

Still can't find what you are looking for? Search for it!


Submit Your link to the Open Link Directory Project

Copyright 2005-2008 MJE Sales, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Proud member of the ArticleCkr Search Network Search Network!
ArticleSnatch.com is free for both publishers and authors to use and is supported entirely from advertising revenue.
Use of our service is protected by our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.