Loading



Certified House Appraisal



Why to Order One


A Certified House Appraisal. This is it! You have arrived at the absolute best way to establish home appraisal values for your house, when selling for sale by owner.


First I'm going to cover the why, then explain the appraisal itself.


Put yourself in a potential buyer's shoes. They view your home and love it. Unfortunately, many buyers have a set of fears when considering buying a house that is on the market for sale by owner.


We are only going to cover the Price Fear here. There are several others, but we will cover those in other sections of your Sell My House FSBO course.


Mr. and Mrs. Seller, Where Did You Get Your Price From?


A dreaded question. What will your answer be? I threw a dart? I researched the neighborhood? I had a couple of real estate agents in? or...”Mr. And Mrs. Buyer, here is a Certified House Appraisal”. Please feel free to look it over.

Man checking paperwork


Wow! That sure eliminates that problem. Check that doubt off! They can't argue with a professional can they?


Now here is the BIG bonuses!


  • Certified appraisals establish credibility. You want the house appraisal sitting on the Kitchen Table with the home appraisal value highlighted in yellow.


  • Certified appraisals for the most part, eliminate “low ball” offers. No more insults. If you ever do get one of those verbal "low ball" offers, Go Here to find out how to handle.


  • Certified appraisals can eliminate banks turning down your buyer because of price. You should offer the buyer the appraisal for free if they buy your house to take to the bank. This saves the buyer money. If the appraisal is recognized by the bank this will eliminate re-negotiations due to a low appraisal later.


NOTE: A question to ask your appraisal before you hire him or her is; “What banks and or lending institutions, recognize your appraisal for mortgage lending purposes?”. If all or most you should be a happy camper.



The down side? There really isn't any. You might object to the fact you have to pay for one. Consider the costs as an investment, not a purchase. See above.

Number of model houses with one in red under magnifying glass



The Appraisal and What it Means


When you receive your house appraisal you will want to look at over before you display it for your potential buyers.


There should be some nice outside photos of the house and out buildings. A write up about the property including sq. Footage and lot size.


You will be looking for 2 numbers.


  • The appraised value of the property using comparisons of properties similar to your house.


  • Cost approach where the appraiser considers the cost per sq. Foot to build your house using today's cost. He or she will then add on any improvements such as air-conditioning, underground sprinkler system or a fireplace etc.


The appraiser will then subtract for age or general wear and tear. Adjustments will be made for any other negative or positives factors.


Now you have 2 numbers. Market value and Cost value with adjustments. These two numbers can be very close in value or quite spread apart. What do you do?


The most important number to you and your potential buyer is #1. This should reflect true market value.



Market Value: What a willing seller will accept for a property and a willing buyer will pay for a property, with neither party being under any duress.



Take the price that the appraiser has established as market value and highlight it in yellow. You may want to highlight the cost approach as well, IF the price is equal or greater, than the market value approach.


Keep the appraisal close at hand and place on the kitchen table when you have a potential buyer over to view the property, or you are having an open house.


On the following link, I reveal why I always suggest the kitchen table for various tasks. I call it Kitchen Magic and you don't want to miss it. It is very important.


Website Electronic Appraisals


I have to cover this subject as I just know someone out there is going to try to save a few bucks and have an on-line appraisal done. After all you can get a home appraisal value for $29.95. Right?


I'm not here to judge or try to discourage someone from using a service offered on line.


Mortgage companies have for quite some time been using a data base for some appraisals and have employed the “drive-by” appraisal. In some cases they would even do the "arm-chair" house appraisal. In both these cases, an offer has already been accepted by a home owner and if the down payment is fairly substantial, the lending institution may forgo a full appraisal.


Due to the fact that there is no physical viewing of your property, your on-line appraisal (based on the information you supplied), will give you a range. What do you show a potential buyer if you are asking $272,900 and your "appraisal" says your house is worth $250,000 to $300,000?


See the problem? I thought you would.

Model of house next to calculator with black background


The reasons you want the full package, is twofold.


  • Establish the price for your house


  • Build credibility with your buyer.


When the buyer looks at that certified house appraisal with the highlighted market value of $287,000, the fear of, "Will I be paying to much for this house?" is gone. Make sense?


I can't quote a price for a certified house appraisal for your house, but at the time this was written, a certified appraisal of a residential property in my city was in the $350. range.


The final verdict? A Certified Home Appraisal is an investment, not a cost.


For More Information on Pricing Your House

The Throw a Dart Method

Neighborhood Research

Using Realtors and the CMA

Final Decision - Asking Price

Pricing - Main Page



Home Page


Back to Top of Page



Disclaimer Privacy Policy Contact Me

Protected by Copyscape Online Plagiarism Software

If you have a question, a comment, or a suggestion, I can be reached at:

Sell My House FSBO

This website is written and maintained

by Douglas Cameron

Douglas F. Cameron Author of this Website


An Unsolicited Testimony

I just came across your website and didn't even have to think twice about writing you to commend you on what a great and well written website you have created. It was very informative and now saved in my 'favorites'.