Home appraisal fees
Home appraisals, to determine the market value of a home, are either necessary, or useful for a number of reasons:
1. A lender or lender's agent will want to determine the fair market value of a home in order to make a decision on whether the final sales price if at or below the market value. This includes lending money for a home purchase ore refinance loan or home equity loan.
2. A potential buyer may want an appraisal to determine a fair value for the property they are considering buying.
3. A home seller may want an independent appraisal price to determine a selling price that is not too high to deter potential buyers, and not so low as to give away the home.
4. To determine a fair value for property taxes. This can be used for challenging a homeowners assessed value.
5. To determine a home's value for a divorce settlement.
6. To determine a home's value for an estate liquidation.
7. To determine a fair market value for homeowner's insurance protection.
8. To remove private mortgage insurance (PMI) requirements.
In many cases, the owner of the property will pay the costs of the appraisal, but will have no right to choose the person or company doing the appraisal. This is to ensure objectivity of the appraiser.
The price of the appraisal is determined by a number of factors, most of which can not be influenced by the buyer of the appraiser's service. These include the market value of the property, size and complexity of the property, distance from the appraiser location, type of property and other factors.
Factors that can be influenced to determine the price of the appraisal follow:
1. How soon the appraisal is needed. The sooner it is needed, the higher the price.
2. Specific time for the appraisal. If a specific time of day is required, this may be more costly than if the period of time is increased.
If you are hiring an appraiser directly, the fee can usually be negotiated, and you should be able to get fixed quotes from a number of appraisers.