the Price of Home Appraisals

A home appraisal is a professional estimate of the value of a house, and because we were interested in refinancing our mortgage, we had to pay for the appraisal on our own and provide it to the bank. We used an appraiser that we had worked with previously and he came out and did a complete review and visual inspection of the home for $300, which also included a full written report and supporting figures on comparable homes that we submitted with our application for the loan.

The appraiser was very thorough and inspected every aspect of the house, including the outside and the neighborhood, so that he could assign a fair value. He also asked us some questions about improvements and the age of things like the garage door and other fixtures, which we felt showed his attention to detail. The cost for the service was reasonable compared to other appraisers, but the fact that we had to bear the cost was not entirely fair, even though it is part of the loan process. Our appraiser was also nice enough to point out some details and aspects that we could address in the future to increase the value of our house for resale.

Don't confuse an appraiser, who only gives an opinion about the value of a house, with an inspector, who is looking for defects and checking to make sure that everything works as it should. Some people think they are the same and they are definitely not. Be sure to ask when you are hiring someone so that they don't do an inspection instead.