Are you interested in selling your home but not sure what your home is worth? Having an appraisal done will give you that answer. It is important to price your home competitively so that it will sell in a reasonable time period.

In determining a property’s current value, an appraiser will consider recent sales of similar homes in the area and will compare properties that have sold in the last six months. This determines an estimate of what a seller might expect to get for their property. This approach to value is called the sales comparison.

Another approach to establishing value is called the cost approach. This takes into consideration information such as local building costs, labor rates and other factors to determine how much it would cost to build a similar or comparable home.

The approach used is determined after the appraiser visually inspects the history of recent comparable sales and features of the home. They look at the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, location, condition, remaining useful life and other factors that could affect a home’s value.

The appraised value is then used as a benchmark for lenders who don’t want to loan more than the home is actually worth.
If you plan to use the services of a Realtor to sell your home, they typically do a free market analysis to estimate value and recommend a listing price.