Key takeaways
- It’s appropriate to discuss your market knowledge with appraisers, but you cannot demand a particular value for your listing.
- Learn the guidelines that an appraiser is required to follow so you can recommend reasonable comps.
- Educate your clients on how to best prepare for the appraisal, which isn’t much different from getting ready for showings.
Take the listing? Check! Sell the home? Check! Inspection completed? Check!
Appraisal okay? Things could have gone better! What happened?
Everyone benefits when appraisers and listing agents work together. Often a low appraisal value could have been avoided if all parties knew their roles at the beginning of the assignment instead of at the end.
It’s okay for a listing agent to communicate with an appraiser, but it’s inappropriate to demand a particular value. Per the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), appraisers must arrive at their own supported conclusion. Look at the appraiser as an important part of the team but one who must remain an independent, neutral, third-party provider of services. The appraiser is not, and cannot be, an advocate.
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That said, don’t wait until the appraiser is at the door to begin thinking about the appraisal.
Appraisers can do their best job when fully and properly informed. Brokerage professionals work with buyers and sellers every day and are experts when it comes to current market conditions. It’s appropriate to discuss your market knowledge with appraisers. A good appraiser doesn’t take any offense when it comes to reliable data and great information.
How else can you help an appraiser? Meet the appraiser during the appraisal inspection and provide the appraiser with a package, which at a minimum includes the following:
- MLS printout for the subject home
- Copy of the contract
- Spreadsheet of other offers received
- Property data sheet or brochure used during the marketing period
- List of improvements that includes year completed and cost
- Description of special features that make the subject property stand out from other homes in the area
- MLS printouts of sales you want the appraiser to consider
- MLS printouts of pending sales with actual contract prices
- MLS printouts of current listings
- Realtors Property Resource® (RPR) report using the Refine Value tool to offer your own opinion of value
- Survey of the property, if available
- Floor plan and measurement of the home, if available
Be reasonable with the selection of comparable sales. Take the time to learn the guidelines that an appraiser is required to follow instead of providing randomly selected sales, which may not even be allowed for consideration. Generally speaking, the best comparable sales to provide have the best combination of being located in the same marketing area, closed within the past three to six months, are in the same or similar condition, have a similar gross living area (- +/-5% ), and have the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FHA, and VA appraisal requirements vary. Not all appraisals are based on the same beginning instructions. Find a copy of each agency’s standards to be aware of the assignment conditions.
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