Sep 4, 2009
A Modern Approach to Home Appraisal
Your home might be worth more than you think. Whether you’re happily settled, or getting ready to sell, it never hurts to know how your investment is doing, especially if you’ve lived in your home for a long time. Population increases, new homes or amenities nearby, and economic trends can all impact on property value, and might change how you feel about your investment.
As an expanding industry, property valuation has become very accessible to homeowners who want some quick numbers. There are a variety of new property evaluation services competing to appraise your property first, and many of them are free. As a result, service from traditional home evaluators has also improved dramatically in recent years.
Getting a home value estimate from a professional appraiser is still the most reliable way of checking your home’s value. In the U.S., the quickest and easiest way to find someone for this is through the Appraisal Institutes’s list of Associate Members. The Appraisal Institute is the largest and oldest group of professional real estate appraisers in the world, with more than 22,000 members. Here you’re likely to find one or two home evaluation professionals in your area, no matter how remote it is. A typical fee from an appraisal institute associate can range anywhere from $200 to $500, depending on the size of your property, and number of buildings on it. Outside the U.S., prominent industry groups include the Appraisal Institute of Canada, and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
A professional real estate appraiser can typically use three approaches when evaluating your home: the cost approach; the sales comparison approach; and the income approach. The cost approach estimates the value of your property by summing the land and depreciated value of any improvements, while the sales comparison approach examines the price of similar properties in your area, and the income capitalization approach capitalizes an income stream into a present value, for commercial and investment properties.
Many real estate professionals also offer home appraisals, which they commonly referred to as Comparative Market Analysis. This service usually involves the sales comparison approach, and is almost always offered free of charge, since real estate agents see it as a valuable lead generation tool. A real estate agent can also provide a reliable referral to a professional appraiser.
While hiring a traditional appraiser might provide the most accurate estimate of your home’s value, many property owners are taking advantage of free home appraisal services that offer a less accurate figure. The most prominent of these is real estate media source Zillow, which compiles as much information as possible on an area to provide home value estimates.
Knowing your home’s value can help you plan for the future more effectively, and decide whether or not it’s time to sell. With all the property evaluation resources available these days, you can check up on your investment with little stress and effort.
Watch the video related to home appraisal
Why you should get a real estate appraisal as discussed on CNN.
Help answer the question about home appraisal
Where can I get a free appraisal on a mobile home?
Does anyone know where I can obtain a free mobile home appraisal? I’m looking at purchasing a 1993 Liberty and would like to have an idea of its value. NADA charges $30. I’ll use them if I absolutely have to, but if anyone knows a free site, help me out please!
About Author
Twin Cities top urban REALTOR® Andy Asbury knows Minneapolis condos and loves helping clients make intelligent real estate decisions. He represents clients seeking to rent, buy or sell at the Carlyle Minneapolis which has brought New York style luxury to Minneapolis. Come discover it for yourself!
Just make sure the house is free of clutter! Fix any visible damages and paint walls that appears old and dirty, paint does wonder as people say. Repair or update any outdated amendities will greatly improve your value of the home. Exteriors too!
Your loan documents should have included a page telling you about your right to a copy of your appraisal and how to go about obtaining one. Try looking through your document copies for thatinformation. Although, remember, a 2 year old appraisal is pretty meaningless today, unless you need proof supporting the value and price you paid for some reason unrelated to trying to sell it now or value it for refinance.
Appraisers normally start out in a radius of about a mile of the property being appraised. If nothing have sold in that radius they will extend the radius.
Because you added certain things to your house, does not necessarily mean that what you added will give value or increase the value of your house.
If you upgraded the landscape to what the other landscape is in the neighborhood then that will add little value to the property.
Your remodeled kitchen and bath will do that.
The REOs sold in your area will be the established criteria for an appraisal in your area. Your appraiser might list that in his appraiser report which might be of some benefit, but the value of the property is what the lender/bank will eventually established the value of your property.
Your property might have lost a little value in the year that you have owned the property.
I hope that this has been of some benefit to you, good luck.
"FIGHT ON"
You can, but if the appraisal is over 90 days old, it is no good. Also, the previous lender has to transfer it over, which you have to request in writing.
Good luck!
This is all due to the HVCC rules. The lender will only accept appraisals from their own Appraisal Management Company which means if the lender declines your loan you need a new appraisal to go with a different lender.
There is a petition to change the current HVCC law. Please sign up and show your support here http://www.hvccpetition.com/SignPetition.aspx
The actual appraisal itself usually never takes more than a full days work once the house has been visited, it's more scheduling it into the appraiser's work load and getting him out there that takes a while. When I bought my house, that process took 3 days total.
Pay the $30 because no site can give you a real estimate on a mobile home they have not seen. Is it in a park or on some land?
Truly, I was in the business of selling mobile homes for about a year and none of them are worth the money. You are much better off paying rent on an apartment and saving your money until you have a down payment on a real bricks and mortar home.
The room may or may not bring up the appraisal by 10K. IF proper permits were not pulled then you are in for a lot of trouble and can even be made to remove the addition.
You are mistaken about what it takes to get PMI stopped, here read this
How Do You Cancel or Terminate PMI?
Cancellation
Under HPA, you have the right to request cancellation of PMI when you pay down your mortgage to the point that it equals 80 percent of the original purchase price or appraised value of your home at the time the loan was obtained, whichever is less. You also need a good payment history, meaning that you have not been 30 days late with your mortgage payment within a year of your request, or 60 days late within two years. Your lender may require evidence that the value of the property has not declined below its original value and that the property does not have a second mortgage, such as a home equity loan.
I don't think you can do that yourself, you'll need a licensed appraiser. It doesn't cost that much, maybe $220, at least that's what it cost me here in PA. It also doesn't take that long, maybe a 1/2 hour or less. Check out the yellow pages as well as the Better Business Bureau to be sure. In the end you should get a detailed report about your property as well as the surrounding area.