How does a house appraisal happen?

[ame]

Like...do they come in? Do they even GO there? Should you have your house as nicely landscaped as possible?

 

[VRBeauty]

They should come to your house and enter the home. They'll be counting the number of rooms, and they'll measure the house (usually from the outside) for square footage. Then they'll compare that information to similar information from other homes in the area that have sold recently ("comparable") to come up with a value.

Anything you could do in the short term is not going to influence their valuation of your house much, if at all.

 

[rocks]

not sure whether the process is standardized across states, but here in ny they will come and inspect the house...they will take photographs inside and out, take measurements, do a plot of the house and how it sits on your property. they will evaluate the construction and condition, the kitchen and the number of bathrooms/fireplaces/decks and their condition and compare it to other "like" properties in the area....and then they will come to a "market value".
the market value may be right and may be wrong.....if the lender is familiar with the area, you are likely to get a more realistic appraisal.

our weekend house was appraised for a HELOC. we had about $500k in equity. nice but small beach house in a very prestigous town on 2.5 acres. the appraisal came in way below the value of the house because the bank appraiser was not familiar with the area and could not understand that the land was worth alot more than the house. we fought with the appraiser...they revalued based on market...next thing that happens is that the bank demanded that we double the value of our homeowners insurance. we again tried to explain that the land was worth more than the house...they didn't get it..... fast forward, we refinanced with a local bank. house and land appraised at market. no problem.

make sure you know who you are dealing with.

 

[partgypsy]

We refinanced our house last year (did a cash out to help finance some house improvements). First bank we went hired someone who gave a crap apprisal (100% off in value!). Our realtor friend said it was the worse appraisal he had seen. We protested, saying they did not give an appropriate appraisal as they promised someone within 30 miles, and this person was not. But they refused to adjust the appraisal or allow a second appraisal. I was very steamed, thinking this was a ploy to collect $500 deposits without actually doing any loans.
We then worked through a broker. The appraiser was familiar with our area (same county) and came back with a fair appraisal, smooth sailing.
I did end up making a complaint with the original company, who ended up refunded our $500 deposit.

We didn't make any major changes before the appraisal, but for the 2nd appraisal we did clean, and printed a list and dates of improvements we made to the house. Ultimately, the majority of the value swings on the location; the most important thing is for the company doing the appraisal be familiar with the area. If anything I think appraisals are going on the conservative side, so you probably won't get any happy surprises there.

 

[ame]

Well the ball is rolling, we start the paperwork on Monday, and then we'll set up the appraisal then. But Ill have to do some quick cleaning this weekend, and quick yardwork/landscaping touchups. Yard people came to cut yesterday. Maybe quick painting on the front porch to make it look less weathered...

 

[texaskj]

Most appraisers don't give a flip about how clean the house is. Your value mostly depends on where in town your house is, what the square footage is and what houses around you are worth. Now if the appraiser can see a crumbling foundation, bad water leaks, a roof ready to cave in, etc., they might bring the value down. Might. It's not an exact science by any means.
Sometimes they don't even come in the house, they do a drive by and/or get their information from the appraisal district.
Good luck ame. Right now I'm waiting for a notary to come and witness my signatures on my refinance. I think Citi didn't want to loose my mortgage, so they made it pretty easy; new rate of 4.3% from 5.5%, but hey, it's not costing me a dime.

 

[asscherisme]

Like...do they come in? Do they even GO there? Should you have your house as nicely landscaped as possible?

Its arranged by who your are trying to finance with. I have owned several houses in my life, and refianced several times to lower rates. Usually they have an appointment with you to come into the house. I did have one do a "drive by" and never entered the house but that was 2005 and in the midst of the housing boom before the economy collapsed. I just refianced my house to lower the rate, and the most recent appraiser came in and spent about 20 minutes inside measuring each room and taking a pic of each room and did the same outside, measuring and pics.

My loan went through and I will say my landscaping is crap right now. I've neglected it and its a project I'm aiming on for next year for sure.

As far as inside, I've heard they don't care how neat it is, but I'm a naturally neat person so it was pretty neat. I did make beds, make sure there were no dishes, but thats just me and I'm sure it would have made ZERO difference.

I will say I was shocked at how low my appraisal was. But thankfully I had enough equity in my home to get the great rate I was aiming for.

 

[MissGotRocks]

The last appraiser that came here measured every room, measured outside of the house, measured the attached and free standing garages and even measured the shed! She took pictures of each room too. She was very thorough. I think the cleanliness and condition of the home sort of go hand in hand. I would certainly make it look as good as I could - can't hurt!

 

[aljdewey]

We just went through refinance, including appraisal. Appraiser took photos of each room - noted amenities (i.e. wood floors, granite, central air, etc etc.). Then she left and went to her office - plugged in our data and also gave comps on two other recent sales in area to arrive at valuation.

 

[manderz]

Just had our house re-appraised yesterday! We are in the middle of refinancing for a better rate, and this time, the guys came in, and did a quick run through of both units (we own a duplex), took pictures, measured, and left. We still have no clue what the results are. Hoping we'll have enough equity to get rid of PMI. When we bought 4 years ago, the appraisal was literally a drive-by, and it happened to appraise for exactly what we paid .

 

[orbaya]

We just did a refinance a few months ago and she came inside, took a bunch of pictures, made a lot of notes, walked around outside and measured. I told her of the improvements we had done. I also told her what the house had to appraise at in order to get the rate we were looking for. We were very surprised at how low our appraisal came back at, but at least it was over the minimum amount needed. We went from 5.6% to 4.0%! Our payments are now $500 less per month.

 

[ame]

We made a list of improvements, including the repairs to the house that were serious issues the previous owners either did not disclose and covered up or lied about repairing (and we got our proof just after our window of legal recourse). We are in the process still of two of them which I have noted on the list.