How to appraise a house. A comprehensive guide to a residential appraisal by a licensed appraiser.

I've been appraising houses for over 15 years. In this blog I'll give you insight into what an appraiser is looking for during an appraisal. Most of the work a residential appraiser does is not during the on-site appraisal inspection. The real work is done in the research and analyzing of the neighborhood data. This is what separates a good, bad and great appraiser.

A real estate appraiser while at the house gathers information while doing a general observation of the condition of your property. I start by measuring the exterior of the property. An appraiser should measure from the exterior of the house when possible, it gives a more accurate number then measuring from the inside. Obviously with condos and townhouses measuring from the exterior may not be possible. While measuring I'm also observing and taking pictures. Some general things an appraiser is looking for is the type of roof, windows and type of construction.

On the inside of the property the appraiser is adding to the sketch and layout of the house and taking pictures of the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, dining and living areas. While inside the appraiser is also observing the condition of the property. The appraiser will note the type of flooring, check the central air conditioning system and observe if the bathrooms and kitchen are updated. The type of upgrades will be noted and when the property was updated. Note that an FHA appraisal is a little more in depth. With FHA appraisals the appraiser has to verify the appliances are functioning and conduct a head and shoulders inspection of the attic.

Before the appraiser goes to the appraisal appointment he/she does preliminary research where they research the neighborhood for comparable properties. After the inspection the appraiser observes the neighborhood and gets pictures of the comparable properties that the appraiser identified. The preliminary research in some cases could identify up to 10-15 comparable properties. The art of appraising is to identify the most comparable properties.

After the appraisal appointment and all the gathering of information the appraiser is now ready to drill down and analyze all the data collected for the report. As an appraiser here in Palm Beach County I use Flex MLS, public records and the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser ( https://www.pbcgov.com/papa/ ) to research and verify data.

They say that residential appraising is more of an art than science, which can be true but if you know how to analyze the numbers it really paints a clear picture of what is going on for that moment in time. Remember the market is always moving and being influenced by many things. If you need to know the current value of your home please contact me.