Breaking Down the Appraisals

Acquiring a house is the most significant investment some people might ever encounter. It doesn't matter if it's where you raise your family, a second vacation property or one of many rentals, the purchase of real property is a complex transaction that requires multiple people working in concert to pull it all off.


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You're likely to be familiar with the parties having a role in the transaction. The most known person in the transaction is the real estate agent. Then, the lender provides the money required to fund the deal. The title company ensures that all aspects of the exchange are completed and that the title is clear to transfer from the seller to the buyer.

So what party is responsible for making sure the value of the property is in line with the purchase price? In comes the appraiser. We provide an unbiased estimate of what a buyer might expect to pay - or a seller receive - for a parcel of real estate, where both buyer and seller are informed parties. A professional Georgia licensed appraiser from Real Estate Valuation, Inc. will ensure you as an interested party are informed.

Inspecting the subject property

Our first responsibility at Real Estate Valuation, Inc. is to inspect the property to determine its true status. We must see features hands on, such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the location, living areas, etc., to ensure they really exist and are in the condition a reasonable person would expect them to be. To ensure the stated size of the property has not been misrepresented and describe the layout of the house, the inspection often includes creating a sketch of the floor plan. Most importantly, the appraiser looks for any obvious amenities - or defects - that would affect the value of the house.

Back at the office, an appraiser employs two or three approaches when determining the value of real property: sales comparison and, in the case of a rental property, an income approach.

Cost Approach

Here, we use information on local construction costs, labor rates and other factors to determine how much it would cost to replace the property being appraised. This value often sets the upper limit on what a property would sell for. It's also the least used predictor of value.

Sales Comparison

Appraisers can tell you a lot about the neighborhoods in which they work. We innately understand the value of certain features to the homeowners of that area. Then, the appraiser researches recent sales in close proximity to the subject and finds properties which are 'comparable' to the real estate in question. Using knowledge of the value of certain items such as square footage, extra bathrooms, hardwood floors, fireplaces or view lots (just to name a few), we add or subtract from each comparable's sales price so that they are more accurately in line with the features of subject property.

Say, for example, the comparable has an irrigation system and the subject doesn't, the appraiser may subtract the value of an irrigation system from the sales price of the comparable home.
However, if the subject property has an extra half-bathroom and the comparable does not, the appraiser might add a certain amount to the comparable property.

At Real Estate Valuation, Inc., we are experts when it comes to knowing the value of real estate features in Atlanta and Fulton County neighborhoods. The sales comparison approach to value is usually given the most weight when an appraisal is for a real estate sale.

Valuation Using the Income Approach

A third method of valuing approach to value is sometimes applied when a neighborhood has a measurable number of renter occupied properties. In this case, the amount of income the real estate produces is factored in with income produced by nearby properties to derive the current value.

Reconciliation

Combining information from all applicable approaches, the appraiser is then ready to document an estimated market value for the property in question. Note: While this amount is probably the best indication of what a property would sell for in an open market, it may not be the final sales price. Prices can always be driven up or down by extenuating circumstances like the motivation or urgency of a seller or 'bidding wars'. Regardless, the appraised value is often used as a guideline for lenders who don't want to loan a buyer more money than they could get back in case they had to put the property on the market again. At the end of the day: An appraiser from Real Estate Valuation, Inc. will help you get the most accurate property value, so you can make profitable real estate decisions.