Things You Need To Know About House Valuations

One of the most important things to consider when selling your house is home appraisal. Regardless of where you are in your home selling process, an appraisal may assist you in selling your home at the correct market value. This post will cover things you should know about home valuation. But first, let’s look at what home appraisal means?

So, what is an home appraisal?
A house appraisal is a procedure through which a real estate appraiser helps you estimate the value of your home. Whether you want to sell, buy, transfer or mortgage your property, you need property valuation to determine the fair market price.
A real estate appraiser uses a wide range of factors during home appraisal. These include:

• Characteristics of the neighborhood

• Trends in the local housing market

• Selling prices of houses recently sold around the area

• Condition, age and design of your home

• Amenities and appliances available

• Renovations and improvements

An appraisal is arguably one of the most important processes when selling your house. However, it can be a stressful experience, especially if you have no idea what goes into it. So, let’s look at a few things you should know about house valuation.

Top 5 Things to Know about Home Appraisal
These are the most important things to know as far as home appraisal is concerned.

What is the Best Time for Home Appraisal?
Ideally, you should have your house appraised when you decide to put it up for sale. The process gives you an idea of the amount you should ask for as the asking price for the house. That’s why it is the first step you should take before listing your house in the market.

Apart from that, an early home appraisal helps you determine the kind of property you can afford next, especially if you want to upgrade to a bigger house. Sometimes, when you are unsure whether to relocate or remodel, a home appraisal report can help you determine what option suits your needs best.
If you are buying a house, a house appraisal is also essential, especially if the home is bespoke or if the price is listed as ‘in area of/in excess of.’

How to Prepare Your House for Appraisal
Preparing your home for an appraisal involves making it look at its best. As we mentioned early, the condition of your house plays a significant role during its valuation. Therefore, you need to invest time to prepare it before the appraisal date. Here are a few tips to help you in the preparation.

• Examine previous evaluation reports and fix issues that decreased the value of your house.

• Gather critical documents such as land survey documents that verify the size of the property, the most recent sale price of the house and receipts for previous upgrades and improvements.

• Repaint your walls and fix any problems such as leaky pipes or chipped tiles

• Clear clutter and contain your pets to make the inspection easier.

How Much Does a Home Appraisal Cost?
A home appraiser can offer you services for free or charge you a small fee, depending on your intention for the valuation. For instance, you do not have to pay an agent for home valuation if you are planning to sell it through their agency. Normally, these agents would evaluate the property, market it and take the fee once the sale goes through.

However, you may have to pay some fee if your intention is mortgage application or you are planning to sell your house without the help of an agent.

Get a Second Appraisal
One appraisal is not always enough, especially when you are selling or buying a house. Sometimes, an appraiser might over-value or undervalue your property, depending on how keen they are to work with you as their client. Therefore, it is always important to get two appraisals and compare them.

If there is a considerable gap between the two values, you should consider getting a third one to get an average.

Conclusion
Whether you want to sell, buy or get a mortgage, home appraisal is an important step. The process helps you determine the price of a home before listing it or making a purchase. It is an essential procedure for everyone involved in the sale process.