When you borrow money to buy a house, the money lender requires an appraisal – a neutral expert’s estimation of the home’s fair market value. The appraiser considers many factors, including the prices of comparable homes that have been sold recently as well as the condition, size and amenities of the property being appraised. The lender [...]
Sinking home values are often lowering appraisals as well. If you are considering refinancing your home, what do you need to know about the appraisal process to help ensure that you get the best possible appraisal on your home? Because your appraisal is used to evaluate how much your home is worth and sets the [...]
Title Insurance, Appraisal and Homeowner’s Insurance. These are very confusing areas of a real estate transaction. Some people can get confused, but that’s easy to understand when you consider that they have little knowledge or guidance concerning real estate transactions. Title Insurance When you buy a home, a title company examines the chain of titles [...]
Most home buyers take advantage of the home appraisal when they buy a new home, however, others toss the notion aside, especially when the market is hot, and that’s not a very wise decision when putting so much into something so valuable. If you’re looking to use mortgage financing, it’s hard to overlook an appraisal. [...]
Fraud is everywhere and in the real estate business it abounds. Even home appraisers have been known to dip their hands into the fraud bucket. The government is seeking out fraud companies in their own way, but they also encourage the public to take their own measures against these crooks. If you are looking to get your home [...]
By Ted Gilmour If your inspector is only spending a max 2-4hrs (“depending on size and age”) get another inspection by an inspector who will do a thorough investigation and who is not dependent on agent referrals; an unspoken cozy relationship of tit-for-tat reciprocity exists between agents and inspectors. Often when you interview inspectors they [...]
That title may be a bit of a mouthful but there is no denying the concept behind it. When buying a home, getting an inspection done and acting on the report quickly is a must. In the past, sellers were fairly honest. What you saw was what you got. There was little in the way [...]
Having the real estate economy classified as a buyers market really does make the life of an owner so much more difficult. Whether it’s a buyers market or not, if the perception is there then price becomes an important issue. Overprice your real estate and you could be pricing yourself out of a sale. Even [...]
Real estate appraisal is simply a process of determining what a property’s real worth is. The appraisal is generally undertaken by an appraiser who has been licensed by the state. They should be independent third parties who can provide unbiased valuations. That all sounds very formal and to an extent it is. Let’s take a [...]
