Home Appraisal

Buying a home can be an exciting and nerve-wracking process. With terms like MLS, comparables and market analysis being thrown around, you may feel as though you are learning a new language. Perhaps no stage of the process, however, is more essential and more complex than a careful, objective home valuation. This is particularly important given the difficulty of assessing a home's value without your personal feelings getting in the way.

Objectivity is Key
As you're searching for a new home, it's critical to remain objective. At times, we may feel drawn to a particular property not because it meets all our needs, but because we liked the person selling it. People have a tendency to buy with their emotions and rationalize with their intellect, but it is crucial to resist this pattern and make your real estate decisions with a minimum of emotional influence.

Once you've narrowed your home search down to just a few properties, it's important to view these properties with a critical eye. For most people, buying a home represents the largest purchase they will make during their entire life, so it makes sense to use prudence and caution before signing a contract. Be sure to evaluate a home based on its condition, age, features and overall impression as well as sales comparables and value estimates. Aesthetics such as paint, wallpaper and carpet can be easily and inexpensively replaced at a later time.

Next time you want to obtain a home appraisal, be sure to consider our statistically based value estimate to determine what the home is worth, and if what you're considering paying for the property is correct. Traditional appraisals can be expensive and sometimes challenging to coordinate. Our HomeSmart Value Report is available online for only $24.95, so you can afford to get a home appraisal one on each home in your "final selection" list.