A home appraisal is an objective “opinion of value” conducted by a licensed professional to estimate the worth of a property. Appraisals are usually ordered by the buyer’s lending agency, but can also be requested by a seller who wants to determine a reasonable asking price for the home.

A certified home appraisal helps you get as much from the sale of your home as possible by pricing it based on its actual market value. If the selling price you set is too high, the home will remain on the market, attracting lookers but no serious buyers. If the price is too low, you could be sacrificing some of your home equity by selling for less than the house is worth.

Home appraisers evaluate the features and amenities of the property against other homes of comparable size in the neighborhood that have sold during the past several months.

A standard appraisal also takes the condition of the home into account. If repairs are needed or code violations exist, the appraiser subtracts these factors from the value of the home.

If the homeowner has made recent improvements or renovations, the appraiser adds the upgrades to the value of the home. All the factors are then tallied and a final “opinion of value” is given in the form of a certified appraisal.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 9th, 2006 at 3:32 pm and is filed under Selling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.