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Real Estate Appraising
Land Surveying
Land Appraising
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Home Appraisals Cost Guide

Also called real estate appraisals, when you are buying or selling your home, it's in everyone's interest to have an accurate appraisal for the property. Some banks won't even give the loan without an appraisal. Land valuation is just the act of hiring an appraiser to come up with a dollar value for your property. This also establishes base prices for mortgage loans, taxation purposes, and divorces (1). Because a property cannot change its location, upgrades are really the only thing that can combat devaluation.

On this page:

Land Surveyor
Soil Testing
What's Included
What You Should Know about Home Appraisals
Why Appraise Your Home?
The Appraisal Process
How to Avoid a Low Appraisal

Land Surveyor

A professional land surveyor will be able to scope out your property and deliver an estimate on the supposed value of your home (2). Usually the bar exam for land surveying varies for each state. These experts can renew deeds, evaluate homes, and define property lines. Other abilities of a land surveyor include:

Title Insurance
Marking Property Boundaries
Drainage Planning
Building Permits
Land Subdivision
Establishing Property Values

Soil Testing

Testing the soil is simply a chemical process by which to analyze the content of local soil (3). The dirt is put through one or more soil testing techniques that measure it for a wide range of qualities. Soil testing can cost around $50 and depend largely on the region you're located. Amongst the areas of testing, the soil can provide data on:

• Nutrient levels
• Quality of soil
• Health dangers to both humans and animals
• pH levels
• Pollution

What's Included

When dealing with a land surveyor, the professional will come out to your property, analyze it, write up and extensively detailed quote, and give you that in writing. This protects the banks from investing too much in a property, and it also protects you from paying too much on a home (4). Therefore all parties are happy once business is concluded. The average cost for a home appraisal is around $300 - $400 dollars (5).

What You Should Know About Home Appraisals

There are a number of points to keep in mind when getting a home appraisal. This is an appraisal, rather than a home inspection for starters. The appraiser is looking at the value of the home, an inspector is looking for issues with the home (6). Typically appraisers are scheduled after the purchase and sale agreement are signed (7). Other details to keep in mind are:

• Cost of appraisal
• Length of process
• General idea of your home's value
• Keep your property looking good for the appraiser
• Landscaping
• Keep a list of repairs that have been done to the property recently

Why Appraise Your Home?

Being a buyer or a seller, both sides will want to have the appraisal done to ensure that everyone is financially secure. As mentioned before, rarely do banks grant loans to customers unless the appraisal has been performed (8). The appraisal is influenced by a number of factors, including:

• Amenities
• SIze
• Bedrooms
• Bathrooms
• Floor plan blueprints

The Appraisal Process

A highly trained and licensed professional will be the one appraising the house. This is due to the demand that appraisers be objective, fair, and without bias (9). This ensures that all parties involved, the buyer, seller, and bank, all receive a fair exchange. The process goes something like this:

The sale of purchase is reached and signed
The bank will generally have appraisers ready
The appraiser arrives on the property
The appraiser tours the premises
The appraiser delivers a written estimate on the property
A written appraisal is given to all parties, usually within a week

How to Avoid a Low Appraisal

Before going into avoiding a low estimate, first we must cover what goes into making a low appraisal. A "comp" is realtor speak for comparable area home sale (10). Short appraisals are usually the result of a lack of similar housing in that area. Because each home is so different, this can make appraising a home slightly more difficult for the appraiser. And unfortunately the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, or HVCC further compounds on the issue, breaking down bank to appraiser communication with some companies. But there are always things you can do to avoid short appraisers, such as: