Appraisal. Just the mere mention of the word makes some of us cringe. You can spend countless hours working on a deal, putting it together, getting through inspection issues, only to have the home under appraise.
Here are a few things you can do to be one step ahead on appraisals.
1) Pre-listing appraisal
As real estate professionals, we offer CMA or some sort of a price analysis for our clients before listing their home. These are not official appraisals, and the sellers can end up with an asking price much higher than what is recommended. If you feel that the price is too high, you should recommend the seller hire a licensed appraiser to analyze the home. This way, they will receive an official price and not waste their time marketing the home in an unrealistic price range.
2) Meet the appraiser at the home.
I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to meet the appraiser at the home and offer comps. Be prepared to offer your local market knowledge if the appraiser is not familiar with local market conditions. You may know of similar homes that recently went under contract, or be able to explain why certain homes sold for lesser amounts. Perhaps there was a FSBO that sold and that data was not available on the MLS. You being there does make a difference.
To learn more on appraisals, read the latest Clean Slate post, “Staying ahead of the Appraisals Game.”
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