If an appraiser compares your property to one that turns out to be an outlier as far as market value — such as a home sale among relatives for a lower cost, divorce sale or foreclosure — it can impact the appraisal.
The appraiser typically spends the most amount of time inspecting the home's interior. An appraiser will assess the structure and overall condition of a home. ... They will take note of the home's foundation type and will assess the materials used on the floors, windows, and walls.
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The curb appeal and general landscaping of the home also impacts the home appraisal value. If your home lacks curb appeal it could lower the value of the home. On the other hand if your yard is filled with hard to care for plants and a hazardous dead tree this could also negatively affect your home appraisal value.
Do Appraisers Look in Cabinets? In most homes, the appraiser will have no reason to look in the cabinets because they do not need to open them to measure living space. However, if there are obvious signs of disrepair, broken hinges, infestation, etc., they might look in cabinets.
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“Generally speaking, a messy house with scattered clothes, toys or belongings does not affect an appraisal. Appraisers are professionals that have been trained to look past the clutter and assess the true value of the property,” explains Albert Lee, Founder of Home Living Lab.
After all, it's telling what you can find sometimes when looking in a shower (or under the kitchen or bathroom sinks). Ultimately, it's still possible the appraiser caught mostly everything, so there may be nothing to worry about, though it sounds like the appraiser went a bit too fast and missed some things.
Unless the amount of clutter begins to affect the structural condition of a home, it will not affect an appraisal. The cleanliness of a home also has no impact on the value. It is not uncommon for an appraiser to walk into a cluttered, messy home.
Appraisers are looking in your closets not to evaluate storage space but because they can sometimes count the closet towards square footage. ... Depending on how much notice you have of the appraiser's visit, you might have time to complete some unfinished projects.
If you are an appraiser, look under the sink to know what is there. If you are a seller, be aware the appraiser might call for repairs if seeing something like the photo above. It might be worth curing the problem before the appraiser comes (I'm not saying you should hide the issue if you know you have a mold problem).
In real estate, a home appraisal typically takes two days to a week to fully complete. To complete the appraisal process, the mortgage lender must first order and schedule the appraisal, then gather data about the home. Finally, the appraiser needs to review the data to complete the appraisal report.
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