HOW CAN YOU PREPARE YOUR HOME FOR AN APPRAISAL ?
Prepare for your home appraisal like you would for a home sale. You are in essence re-selling your home. Make sure all the maintenance you can do is done,hopefully most of this was already done for the sale and should at most need only a minor touch up. Be polite to the appraiser and give them full access to your home; work with them not against. And finally, don't be caught off guard. Do your homework! Know what similar homes are selling for in your neighborhood. This is something that should be done before setting your selling price. But in case your home has been on the market for a month or two, keep your research current. Let the appraiser know about similar homes and what they have sold for, especially if you know why a particular home that is like yours sold for less, let them know why your house is different.
If not by an appraisal, how do I set the price for my home?
Home sellers can set the price of their home with the help of an agent using a comparative market analysis (CMA); the CMA is not a replacement for an appraisal but will give a good idea on setting an asking price, usually 5-10% more than the market price for your area.
Facts About Real Estate Appraisals:
A Real Estate Appraisal helps to establish a property's market value.
Appraisals are an Important Part of Your Buying and Selling Transaction –the likely sales price it would bring if offered in an open and competitive real estate market.
Your lender will require an appraisal when you ask to use a home or other real estate as security for a loan, because it wants to make sure that the property will sell for at least the amount of money it is lending A home valuation is estimated market value. It is not an appraisal.
Use it as a starting point to determine a home's value.
Experienced agents often come very close to an appraisal price with their CMAS, but an appraiser's report is much more detailed--and is the only valuation report a bank will consider when deciding whether or not to lend the money.
Appraisal provided " free no obligation" sales valuations, data on comparable homes, recent sales, neighborhood details and local market trends. .