It’s natural to feel uneasy when the home appraiser shows up at your house. After all, there’s a lot riding on your home’s appraised value. If your appraisal comes out lower than you planned, it could end up delaying or disrupting your home’s sale. Fortunately, by understanding the home appraisal process and taking a few steps to shore up your home’s value, you can cut down the chance you’ll run into appraisal problems. In this article, we walk you through the role and objective of the appraisal, ways your appraiser calculates your home’s value and explain what you can do to help make sure the appraisal doesn’t derail the transaction. Unless you sell your home for cash or get an appraisal waiver, your home sale will probably include a home appraisal. During this process, a third-party appraiser will assess your home and determine the fair market value. That final price will show the buyer’s lender how much money they should be loaning to the buyer. The purpose of a home appraisal is to protect the financial lender and buyer. It’s built in as a safety net to make sure that the price of the home is a fair reflection of its actual value. That means, if you want to sell your home on schedule, you’ll need the home appraisal to be at, near, or above your final agreed-upon price — which means setting the price correctly in the first place. The appraisal happens after the seller and buyer both sign the purchase agreement. That means that the seller has listed the house, the buyer has made an offer on it, and the seller either accepted the offer or finalized negotiations with the buyer. Your appraiser will be a third-party professional who is usually picked out by a lender. In addition to completing appraisal education courses, appraisers can hold several different types of licenses, including: In most cases, an appraiser also needs to work for at least 1,000 hours under a mentor’s guidance before they can qualify for their Residential Appraiser license. Their goal is to provide an objective assessment of a home’s value. It’s usually up to the buyer to arrange and pay for an appraisal. Most home loan lenders will require an appraisal before they’ll finance a home. A typical home appraisal usually costs around $300-$600. Also, government-backed loans, such as VA and FHA loans, will often require an approved FHA or VA appraiser to examine the home.Home appraisal process basics
What’s the purpose of a home appraisal?
When does the home appraisal take place?
Who is the appraiser?
Who pays for the appraisal?
