Sunday, October 20, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Lawrence Walsh-Help, Don’t Hinder Your Home Value
Simple, easy steps to prepare your home for an appraisal and what you can do to help the appraiser see your homes total worth;
• Clean your house. Pick-up all objects that are blocking doorways, hallways or in the middle of a room. Don’t water your grass/plants right before the appraiser comes.
• Let the appraiser do his job, don’t try and control what the appraiser does or dictate what he sees first.
• An experienced appraiser has walked thru hundreds or thousands of homes. If you must follow him around, stay at a professional distance. Rushing to catch up to the appraiser once he turns a corner implies that you don’t trust him. This can be very offensive since most people let the appraisers have free run of the house. Don’t try and engage him in unnecessary conversation, this can cause him to miss something important.
• If you have been talking to a realtor and have a value in mind, make that realtor produce sales that are similar to your house so you may give these comparables to the appraiser for documentation. If the sales are compatible and recent, there will be no surprises in the end. One of the most difficult parts of the appraisal is finding recent, compatible, consistent data that supports a final value. If you can provide “pertinent” data that helps the appraiser, you’re being a big help.
• When the appraiser calls to make an appointment, be informative. Let him know about recent remodeling, upgrades, additions, additional amenities. The more he knows about your house while he’s doing research, the faster he can get the appraisal back to the lender, the faster you get your loan.
• Wait until the appraiser is finished with the inspection to mention anything else that you think will help contribute to your home value. An itemized list is helpful. If the list and costs are extensive, be prepared to provide copies of receipts to the lending institution. Keep in mind that appraisers have to DOCUMENT everything they report. In valuation, “talk is not cheap, it has no value”!
Lawrence Walsh Chief Appraiser / Realtor / Analyst / Investor
• Clean your house. Pick-up all objects that are blocking doorways, hallways or in the middle of a room. Don’t water your grass/plants right before the appraiser comes.
• Let the appraiser do his job, don’t try and control what the appraiser does or dictate what he sees first.
• An experienced appraiser has walked thru hundreds or thousands of homes. If you must follow him around, stay at a professional distance. Rushing to catch up to the appraiser once he turns a corner implies that you don’t trust him. This can be very offensive since most people let the appraisers have free run of the house. Don’t try and engage him in unnecessary conversation, this can cause him to miss something important.
• If you have been talking to a realtor and have a value in mind, make that realtor produce sales that are similar to your house so you may give these comparables to the appraiser for documentation. If the sales are compatible and recent, there will be no surprises in the end. One of the most difficult parts of the appraisal is finding recent, compatible, consistent data that supports a final value. If you can provide “pertinent” data that helps the appraiser, you’re being a big help.
• When the appraiser calls to make an appointment, be informative. Let him know about recent remodeling, upgrades, additions, additional amenities. The more he knows about your house while he’s doing research, the faster he can get the appraisal back to the lender, the faster you get your loan.
• Wait until the appraiser is finished with the inspection to mention anything else that you think will help contribute to your home value. An itemized list is helpful. If the list and costs are extensive, be prepared to provide copies of receipts to the lending institution. Keep in mind that appraisers have to DOCUMENT everything they report. In valuation, “talk is not cheap, it has no value”!
Lawrence Walsh Chief Appraiser / Realtor / Analyst / Investor
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)