How To Prepare For An Appraisal When Selling Your Home

Posted on: 25 October 2022

After listing your home, someone will hopefully come along and make an offer to purchase it. The offer comes in written form and might contain some contingencies you must meet for the house sale to close. One condition is the house must appraise for the amount the buyer offers to pay for the home. So as the seller, you'll need the house to appraise for a high-enough amount. You might be able to influence the appraisal amount by preparing your home beforehand. Here is a guide to help you know what you can do to prepare for a property appraisal

Clean

While an appraiser doesn't judge a home by its cleanliness, its cleanliness still affects the home's value. It's easier to have a higher value for a home when the home is spotless. After all, an appraiser might get distracted if they appraise a messy, cluttered home. Therefore, you might want to clean your house as you've never cleaned before. You could even hire a cleaning company to help you clean it. The goal is to make it as clean as possible before the appraisal occurs.

Fix minor issues

Next, you might want to fix the minor issues you have around your house. The buyer might ask you to fix some things, but you might even want to fix them if the buyer doesn't ask. Broken or faulty things in your home might decrease your home's value. Therefore, you should work on fixing these issues before the appraiser comes.

Get a pre-listing inspection before listing the house

While you won't have the chance to get a pre-listing inspection if you're already under contract, you could do this if you haven't found a buyer yet. A pre-listing inspection reveals a list of your home's problems. If you know these and remedy them, you can likely have a higher appraisal amount.

Update things

Finally, you might want to update a few things in your home before the appraisal. For example, an outdated bathroom reduces a home's value. On the flip side, updating it increases the value of the appraisal.

Talk to a real estate agent

If you have questions about your home sale or the appraisal, you can talk to your local real estate agent. Your agent can answer your questions and help you sell your house. They can also help you find ways to increase your home's value for the appraisal.

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