Understanding How a Home Appraisal Works
Getting a home appraisal is a big step when buying or selling a home, which is an unbiased estimate by a professional of the home’s total value. Whether you are in the process of selling or purchasing a home, getting your house appraised is one of the most important steps in the process. It will help to set a standard for how much your home can be sold for, or it will tell your lender the home’s value before they will lend out a mortgage loan.
In this article, we will discuss how a home appraisal works and the steps that make this process in real estate work.
How Does a Home Appraisal Work?
The process for a home appraisal is surprisingly more straightforward than one would assume. This process in selling or buying a home is scheduled as soon as the selling and buying parties agree to an appraisal to allow for enough time for a visit to the property and a report to be drawn up. The lender will select an appraiser with a state license who will coordinate a time for a home visit with the seller.
In this process, many steps have to be taken, the first being an appraisal inspection. The appraisal inspection sees an appraiser reviewing the interior and exterior of the home to ensure that it is in sound structural shape to confirm there are no safety issues, the total number of the rooms, and if there are renovations or upgrades that have been made to the property since its last transaction. The next step is photographs that will be taken during the walk-through, where both the homeowner and prospective buyer can be present. A major factor in this process is comparing prices of comparable recently sold properties, especially those that share the same characteristics of the appraised house in question. Next, the appraiser will determine the value of the home typically through a sales comparison or a cost-based approach.
How Long is the Process of a Home Appraisal?
The process of the home appraisal can take anywhere from a few days to a week, depending on a handful of factors. Once the mortgage lender selects a professional appraiser, it can take anywhere from 48 hours or longer for the appraiser to schedule a visit to the home. The appraisal itself can take as little as half an hour or up to a few hours. From there, it can take a handful of days to produce an appraisal report depending on a few factors, including:
- Size of the property.
- Complexity of the property.
- The workload of the appraiser.
- The schedule of the appraiser.
- When the lender ordered the appraiser.
Once the process of the home being appraised is finished, the buyer can usually expect to receive an appraisal report in as little as one to two weeks, including all details of the analysis along with the report of the home’s overall condition.
Who is Financially Responsible for an Appraisal?
The borrower is responsible for the appraisal fee, which will be included in the closing disclosure document that is received three days before the closing day. Factors such as the uniqueness of the property and the location can alter the cost of an appraisal. Refinancing an appraisal is similar to the purchase process of an appraisal, as it is just as important for the former because it provides a professional estimate of the value of the home, used to gauge how much home equity can be borrowed against.
Helpful Home Appraisal Tips for Sellers
To get the most out of their home, a seller can do a handful of things to prepare for a home appraisal. The purpose of a home appraisal is to see the worth of your home, so the better the property is maintained, the higher the value. Cleanliness is essential for selling your home. Any signs of pests, unkempt landscaping, cracked windows, and chipped paint are all areas that you can fix before an appraiser is scheduled to visit.
Conclusion
A home appraisal is a crucial part of homeownership, whether you are selling, buying, refinancing, or protecting the value of your home. When you have a general idea of how a home appraisal works, as well as the steps and who is financially responsible, it will be smooth sailing during the process to getting your home sold or getting the keys to the home of your dreams. Trust the professionals at Property Sourced to guide you in finding and settling down in the home of your dreams in the many beautiful, suburban neighborhoods that make up Manteca, CA, today.