Which appraisal should a home owner order?Most of the time home owners don’t order the appraisal. They leave it up to the bank to order the appraisal. This is because most of the time, the owner is trying to refinance or buy a home and that’s what the banks do. As it turns out if you are buying or refinancing, the bank must order the appraisal. This is law and the appraisal must go on a specific appraisal form called a 1004 appraisal if your home is a traditional single family. If your home is a condo, the appraiser submits all of the data on a condo appraisal. If your home is a manufactured home your home will go on a specific form for manufactured homes. What about home owners and buyers? Can they order an appraisal? Is it worth it? I received a call the other day when the home owner wanted to order an appraisal. The first thing that I ask them is, “what will you be using the appraisal for.” Do you know why? Because if she wants to refinance, she will have to go through a bank to order an appraisal and if she is buying a home, the end result ends in an appraisal that the bank orders to check the value before the money is given to her. So you see, it depend what she will be doing and the time when she needs an appraisal. Here is when you should order an appraisal and why you should order an appraisal. RefinancingSome banks will provide a free appraisal in an attempt to win the loan. I’m not sure if there are any companies that provide these anymore but you may want to check around and ask. You just never know. If you’re not sure of the which bank you are going to go with, I’d go with a Desktop appraisal Find out when you want one of these by clicking on the link above. I recommend these types of appraisals, because they are much cheaper than a full appraisal and the bank will still have to order an appraisal, but this will give you more control in the beginning of the loan process.BuyingBefore you write an offer always figure out the value of the home. If you have a good Realtor, they will be able to tell you what the value is and if you will be paying too much. But I would not rely totally on the Realtor, because I’ve seen too many people get burned. Try a little bit of everything until you get a good fuzzy feeling of the value. Try free comparable sales searches on the web, cross reference these sales with what the Realtor can provide and hire an appraiser if you have to, but just don’t buy, buy, buy. Buying a home is the easiest part. Selling is the hardest part. Remember that.Selling , estate planning and PMIA full appraisal or a desktop appraisal is the way to start. Next get a few BPO or CMA’s from the Realtors to double check and see what they come up with. Once you get all of this information, look it over and come up with the best listing price. Understand that the market does change and that the market is in control. Use the tools provided by the appraisers and Realtors, but remember, the market and the amount of time and marketing will determine if you can sell your home.Estate planning: A desktop appraisal is best for these types of planning. They are simple and it’s more accurate than having your rep look in the newspaper for homes. Removal of PMI: You can get a desktop for these if you are on the boarder line. This will give you a good idea if you have enough equity in your home to remove your PMI. The bank may need to hire an appraiser to determine if you have enough equity, so you may want to call the bank on this one first and speak to the bank that holds your mortgage. In order to remove the PMI, they may have to hire their own appraiser, but they may require that a full inspection be completed. If this is the case, this is why a desktop appraisal would be better because it would save you money in the long run, if the value of your home is not even close to what you’ll need. |