Estimating Home Value

[Nicholas Tanner]

Hey guys, so I was wondering about those people that come and estimate the value of a property. What are they called, how do you get in touch with one, and on average how much do they cost. Wouldn't it be beneficial to have one look at a property you are considering buying before hand to check for problems and possibly get a better deal? Thanks very much in advance. I hope you all have an amazing day!

[Taylor Hudgins]

Hi Nicholas,

Of course!  I think you may be referring to an Appraiser?  Here is a link to the American Society of Appraisers: www.appraisers.org/find-an-appraiser Most appraisers are different, but the one our bank used was around $500 when we purchased our first rental property.  

You can definitely have one come out and take a look to appraise the value of a potential property!  I don't know that they'll necessarily look for problems in the way that a home inspector would.  Home inspectors will typically go through the attic, any crawl space underneath the house, examine the electrical, etc to let you know of any potential issues that will need repair.  We definitely used the full report from our inspector to negotiate with our seller at the time and it helped provide a great neutral ground.  They'll lay out each potential repair or damage to the house in a line by line basis (ours did at least) which we were then able to send directly to the seller to let him know which pieces would ABSOLUTELY need to be fixed before we continued in the deal.  It most definitely saved us money in the long run.

Hope this helps!

[Nicholas Tanner]

Thanks, Taylor!