So, how much does a home appraisal cost and why? To answer this question, lets first of all have a look at the different types of home appraisals
* PROFESSIONAL HOME APPRAISAL
This is the most common method of settling on the value of a home. If you were to carry out a home appraisal today, most lenders will tend to urge you to use this method as they find more reliable and reliable. The cost of carrying out this assessment varies depending on where one lives and the layout of his home; the most common range of cost is from $ 250 to $ 500. Under this method an independent and experienced appraiser is hired to come to your house, carry out a close scrutiny and eventually come up with a comprehensive report. This procedure may take several hours or even days and at times the professional appraiser may be require to accompany his report with pictures as visual evidence for materiality of his report.
* REAL ESTATE AGENTS APPRAISAL
This involves hiring the services of a real estate agent to carry out a valuation of your home. This is accredited as a very convenient choice especially due to the fact that most estate agents are very experienced in this field. As compared to an outsider carrying out the home audit for you, a real estate agent is usually more versed with your neighborhood and hence he will tend to give more reliable and factual information. In special instances it is advisable to get the services of at least three real estate agents so as to get a fair view of the value your home. So, how much does this home appraisal cost? The cost of carrying a real estate agent home appraisal is dependent on your relationship with the real estate agent. In most cases, they tend to offer these services free of charge while in others they may do with a slight charge for their services.
* ONLINE HOME APPRAISAL
This is the latest trend in this field. With the sunset of the new technology, it is possible to conduct a home evaluation exercise from the comfort of your laptop or ipad. The online companies' value your house on the basis of historical data. This home appraisal cost valuation method is offered free of charge in most websites but in some cases it costs at around $ 99. It is always advisable to use free sites prior to settling on purchasing or selling your home. Basically, a majority of these websites request for general information and then calculates an estimate within a few seconds.
When getting your home in readiness for an appraisal, you should pay attention to the following tips:
TIPS FOR PREPARING FOR A HOME APPRAISAL (seller)
* Make your house appealing
In order to achieve a good home appraisal report, it is important to ensure that the exterior of your house is in the best shape possible. Ensure that you attend to the lawns, the grass and paint the outside walls in order to ensure that it appeals to the sight of the potential buyer and also win a good opinion from the appraiser.
* Ensure that the interiors are clean
You should thoroughly attend to the interiors of your house prior to an appraisal exercise. Ensure that the kitchen and the bathroom are clean and well maintained. You should also ensure that your clutter is properly managed and that your furniture is well arranged. Note that the more spacious your house looks, the higher value it is likely to attract.
* Carry out essential repairs
Ensure that you fix all problem areas well in advance. Normally if your house has broken windows, leaking water taps et c this is very likely to negatively affect the value of your home.