Saturday, August 30, 2014

5 Ways to Improve Your Home’s Appraisal



 Deciding to have your home re-financed is a great idea especially if the interest rates are low. If done right, you might get a good mortgage that could be beneficial for you for several years. However, there is one obstacle you need to go through first before getting a good mortgage: home appraisal. How can you go work with a Seattle Appraisal Management company and ensure a good appraisal for your home? Below are 5 tips to keep in mind.

Clean Up

A lot of appraisers do not mind going through a place with a few dirty dishes here and a dusty couch there. However, they will have reservations for any place that attracts a horde of flies, rats and cockroaches. An unkempt house tends to devalue the property as it only reflects what the owner is contented in living with. For a very good rate, make sure that you devote a good time on cleaning up and sprucing the place. A major overhaul is not necessary; just sure that the place is clean enough.

Curb Appeal Matters

Apart from the insides, sprucing up the outside will also result in a good rate. Just like with an unkempt living area, an unkempt lawn will also have an effect on the rate that the Seattle appraisal management company is going to give to you. The key here is to give the appraiser the notion that your living conditions are quite good enough in order to give you a good appraisal rate. So, make sure that you can devote enough time to mow the lawn, trim the hedges and remove any eye sore before the date of appraisal arrives.


Effective Age

Appraisal companies are tasked to give any property an effective age, an age that determines how long the place can be of good use based on its build date and the various maintenance and repairs it needs. Keep in mind that a few blemishes and signs of deterioration will not affect your appraisal’s value. However, major structural deficiencies like broken plumbing and ineffective heating systems might. Keep several aspects of the house in working condition or have them repaired regularly. If you can keep your living conditions habitable despite the structure’s age, the appraisal company is willing to give off a good effective age rate which can lead to a good appraisal.

Focus On the Right Investments

It might be tempting to give your place a major overhaul just get to good value. The truth is that making the place look brand new is not necessary. In fact, it goes against the reason why you are having the place appraised in the first place. To maximize your budget, focus on the right places like painting, plumbing, carpet and light fixtures. The rest can be put on hold until you get your mortgage.

Make the Appraiser Comfortable

There have been cases wherein a Seattle Appraisal Management Company has given their clients a less-than-ideal rate since they feel uninvited or threatened during the appraisal. Make every effort to keep the appraiser safe by removing all kinds of threats and accident-prone factors from your home. In essence, putting the appraiser in a condition where they can’t question your living conditions will always lead to a good value.

Sunday, August 17, 2014

What You Should Know About Appraisal Management in Seattle



Appraisal management is an integral part in the real estate industry. However, some people would rather choose to skip the appraisal process and just focus more on the selling or buying of properties. This is usually what happens when a client does not know a lot about appraisals and their importance to real estate transactions. When you are in Seattle and is planning to buy or sell a property in the area, you might want to know some things about appraisal management in Seattle.

Property appraisal does not end when the appraised value of a real estate property is already obtained. There is actually more to that and it includes working as an intermediary between lenders and banks or between buyers and sellers. When the managers do the appraisal, they actually examine different factors of a property and come up with a general result. The genera appraised value is then based on the results.

However, not all appraisal tasks are done in the same manner. Different methods are used according to the type of property being appraised. A property being sold or bought could be brand new or not. The process in appraising a new house is different when appraising one that is made for resale. Also, another method is used when a property is bought or sold for investment purposes. The most common methods used for appraisal includes the sales comparison and cost approach.

The result of the appraisal would highly depend on different factors. Mostly the factors being looked into include the size of the home, its location, the year it was built, and the type of materials used for construction. Other factors are also being considered just like the current state of the property, if it has amenities with it or not, it’s location and basically the general condition of the property. It could go into specific details, but home appraisal is something different from the process of home inspection. 


The appraised value of the property could pretty much depend on the physicality of your home. However, it would somehow depend on the expertise of the appraisal manager doing the task, when a manager is more than capable of doing the appraisal, you can be assured that everything is well taken care of. Professional appraisal managers may ask for a fee that is above average, but they will do the job right for you.

It would be easy to find an appraiser in and around Seattle. However, it would not be the same case when it comes to finding the best property appraisal managers. You may need to look for them carefully and review their qualifications.

If you hire somebody to do appraisal management in Seattle, make sure that he or she is a qualified appraiser. It is a federal requirement for all appraisers to work with a license or certification. The state and federal laws also require appraisers to work with fairness and equality. Conflict of interest should be avoided to provide fair results. Be sure to screen appraisal companies or manages to make sure that your transactions are legal and done with quality.