APPRAISAL

A licensed, professional appraiser will assess the value of your home, usually by comparing it with others in your area that have sold recently (called a ‘comparative market analysis’), to arrive at a fair market value for the home.

Why We Need an Appraisal: The appraised amount provides the basis for determining whether your loan requires mortgage insurance (usually required for loans greater than eighty percent of the value of the home). If we require repairs to the home to meet our minimum underwriting guidelines, then the appraiser will inspect these repairs to be sure that they are completed. If your loan is for the construction of your new home, then the appraiser will inspect the home at each stage of construction to be sure it meets our minimum requirements.

Why You Need an Appraisal: If you are buying a new home, an appraisal should help you decide if you are paying an acceptable price for what is probably one of the largest and most important expenditures of your life. You need to know the value of the home for hazard insurance purposes. The appraisal may provide you with a way to negotiate a lower sale price with your seller, and may even be useful to you if you later wish to contest your property tax assessment. The appraised value also helps a lender determine the maximum loan amount that it can offer under a given loan program on that property.


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