How long should an average appraisal take to complete?

Question

How long should the average appraisal take to complete when I on site at the home? I know it can possibly vary with home size. But what should be the duration?

Russell Brazil · Answer

30 mins, maybe an hour. (time at the property)

Account Closed · Answer

@Kenneth Moerschel they really just need to take pictures of everything and label a sketch. Measuring is supposed to be done but often isnt if the house matches the county sketch so like 30 mins maybe. The majority of the work is done from a computer and then another 30 mins or so driving around to take photos of comps. The cost of your appraisal isnt going towards just them being there for some time. All of the money probably isn't even going to the appraiser anyway, appraisal management companies take a cut of the fee too. Ask your lender to see if you're able to request a reconsideration of value.

Charlie MacPherson · Answer

@Kenneth Moerschel There seems to be some confusion here between appraisal (which is what you asked about) and inspection.

The home inspection is usually done first.  Let's take an "average" home - 1,600 sq ft, 3 beds, 2 bath colonial with a 2 car garage.  That should take an inspector about 3 hours, maybe a little less.  His job is to uncover issues and necessary repairs so that the buyer can make a go / no-go decision on the purchase.

The appraisal is done by the lender (paid for by the buyer).  It is not a home inspection, though in government-backed loans like FHA, VA and USDA, it can seem like one.  Those appraisers do a very detailed inspection and will fail a property for even small amounts of peeling paint, cracked windows, wobbly handrails, crumbly cement steps - and I even had one fail last week for the pipe on the pressure relief valve on the water heater not being 6" from the cellar floor.  This should take about 2 hours.

On a non-FHA/VA/USDA loan (conventional), appraisers want to be sure that the house is livable.  They look to be sure that the major systems are working.  Heat/AC, plumbing, electrical, septic, etc.  This is much faster - maybe 30 minutes total.

In both cases they are trying to ensure that the lender isn't over-lending, so they both come up with a valuation on the home.  The overall goal is to be sure that if the borrower stops paying, the lender can sell at foreclosure to eliminate or at least minimize their losses.

Jose L Torres · Answer

@Kenneth Moerschel Hi Ken,  The answer is it depends on the size of the home and the type of inspection being performed. If you are doing a basic inspection it will take less time, than if you add a 4 point inspection to that and a mitigation inspection on top of that.  Time on the property may run from 2 - 6 hours depending on the size of the home. Some inspection companies have software that they use to document their findings as they are doing the inspection which helps them save time when writing the report.

The written report usually takes anywhere from next day to 3 business days after the actual inspection is completed.  This is usually driven by how busy the Inspector is with his inspections and reports.

A good inspector will crawl all over the place to make sure he has a good understanding of what is the condition of the home and its systems. They take their job seriously as they know you, your bank and your insurance company are relying on the report to make a significant financial decision.

Hope this helps!

Michael Noto · Answer

Around here it is typcially 30 minutes at the property and about a week until the lender gets the report.

Caleb Heimsoth · Answer

@Kenneth Moerschel. 1 hour at the property and 2-4 weeks to get you the report..

Jose L Torres · Answer

@Kenneth Moerschel Ken, Sorry to hear that.  The value of a home is usually tied to the comps on the area as this indicates what the market is willing to pay for similar property in your area.  If you could find some recent sales of homes that are more in line with what you feel the value of your home is; I would suggest you reach out to your inspector and provide him that information and have him/her re-assess. It is worth the shot.

Best of luck!

Kenneth Moerschel · Answer

@Jose L Torres thanks for taking the time to respond. This does help. I think I have frustration with the way the appraisal was done. What you described seemed more appropriate than what I experienced with the appraiser only on site for 15 min for a 2200 sq ft home with 5 acres. This cost $467.00 not only was the appraisal very short, the appraiser also came back with a much lower number than we expected. We knew we weren’t going to be in the high for the original estimate but seemed like we were hit hard due to comps in the area rather than what the house has to offer. Not sure what our next step should be since we are looking to refinance. Thanks again!

How long should an average appraisal take to complete?

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