How to Prepare for a Home Appraisal: 9 Tips to Increase the Value of Your Home

The home appraisal is your final chance to guarantee that your home’s worth is as high as possible, which is especially essential since most proposals will be dependent on the buyer securing financing from a mortgage provider.

To simplify things, the higher your home appraisal, the easier the home selling transition will be. Taking the time to prepare your house for an appraisal is your best bet for increasing the value of your property, and here are nine things you can do to get started.

Start With Your Home’s Curb Appeal

Curb appeal is your opportunity to create a strong first impression on both the home appraiser and potential buyers, so put your best foot forward. There are numerous simple curb appeal ideas to improve the look of your home’s exterior, and they generally take just a few hours to accomplish.

Adding new mulch, planting fresh flowers, mowing your lawn, sweeping leaves, pruning overgrown shrubs, and cleaning sidewalks and roads are some simple suggestions to get you started.

From there, you may progress to more comprehensive curb appeal improvements, such as touching up the outside paint to highlight your home’s exterior features. The aim is to show the appraiser that your home is as well-kept on the outside as it is on the inside.

Declutter Your Home

While appraisers will ignore a home’s “lived-in look,” decluttering might make their job easier because they will be taking photographs and measurements during the assessment process. The appraiser’s ability to conduct their work will be hampered if household things are left in the way.

A nice and clean home seems larger and might help the appraiser in getting a good sense of the property’s condition. The bedroom, kitchen, and living room are three important rooms to declutter because they are the most used in the house.

Clean Every Part of Your House

Appraisers must adhere to rigorous standards, yet most of their work is subjective. Set aside sometime before your appraisal to do a complete deep cleaning of your house. A clean and tidy house says a lot about you as a homeowner and can help the appraiser to see each detail in the best light.

Deodorize undesirable odors from the refrigerator, garbage, dogs, or dirty clothes, and give extra attention to areas that may not be part of your usual cleaning routine, such as baseboards or the inside cabinets.

Consider hiring a cleaning service to undertake bigger cleaning jobs, like washing your carpets to remove caked-in stains or dirt. You will also have the chance to discover and address potential issues that the appraiser may discover if you deep clean your house.

Make Simple Home Repairs

Perform an inspection of your home to check that everything is in good shape. If there are small issues, such as drippy faucets, creaky doors, or scuffs on the walls, you may fix them before the appraisal to guarantee that none of these flaws result in an under-appraised property.

In reality, many appraisers adhere to the $500 rule, which states that property should be valued in $500 increments. As a result, even little repairs can incrementally increase the worth of your home’s total evaluation.

Inspect Your Garage, Roof, Foundation, And Other Home Structures

Aside from curb appeal, a house appraiser will inspect the outside of your property to check that it is structurally sound. Water damage, a broken or leaning chimney, or loose shingles are all indicators of underlying damage that will be taken into account throughout the assessment process. Look for signs of water infiltration or cracks in the foundation, ceiling, or walls. All of these are indications of foundation issues that must be repaired as soon as possible.

You’ll also want to make sure your roof has at least three years of economic life left, since the condition of the roof will play a significant influence in deciding the worth of your property. Check that the garage door opener and any garage outlets are operational, as well as that any utilities, including water, power, and HVAC systems, are operational.

Make Minor Improvements

You want to raise your likelihood of acquiring a high appraisal, and there are several easy house renovations that may help. Keep in mind, though, that you should prioritize problems that obviously need to be handled rather than stressing over “nice to have” features.

Replacing old or unclean drawers and doorknobs and hardware may give your home a fresh look without a large investment and is a fantastic way to upgrade it. Give your room a fresh look by repainting it.

Prepare A List of House Renovations

Make a list of house renovations you’ve made, everything from installing a new kitchen, replacing your HVAC system, or remodeling your basement. Then, present this list to the appraiser along with any supporting documents – such as receipts or invoices – to prove that you performed these repairs.

This will allow the appraiser to see the additional value you have contributed to the house, which may help them justify the property’s ultimate appraised value.

Create a Pleasant and Welcoming Environment

It is the appraiser’s responsibility to be as objective as possible, providing a pleasant ambiance is essential for creating a strong first impression. Light and bright places are more appealing, so let in as much natural light as possible by opening any blinds or curtains and keep the lights turned on throughout your home.

Set your thermostat to a pleasant setting and add soothing touches to the interior with pillows or blankets. Using these easy steps as you prepare for a house evaluation will make the appraiser’s visit more enjoyable.

Look At Real Estate Comps In Your Area

Real estate comps, also referred to as “closed comparable sales,” Examining real estate comps in your location, will provide you with useful information into the appraisal value you should expect for your house.

You should look at homes that have sold in the previous 3 to 6 months that are around the same size and have the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms as yours.

Comps will also offer you insight into how your house compares to others in your community, allowing you to compare your home’s exterior and interior features, as well as its overall condition, to others in your neighborhood. Getting to know the comps in your region will also put you in a strong position to contest an appraisal if it is too low.

The house appraiser will also look at comparable sales in your region to get a sense of what homes similar to yours are selling for. The number of rooms, square footage, location, neighborhood, and other factors will all play a role in deciding the value of your property. The appraiser will also make changes from house to house based on the features of each property in comparison to the subject property being evaluated.

When you know what the home appraiser is looking for, preparing for a home evaluation can be a stress-free experience. Check that your home’s inside is as appealing as the exterior and that the overall state of your home is in good condition. Message me if you are looking for a real estate agent that can help you with your Real Estate needs. Let’s work together to get the most out of your property and get your dream home in no time.