Post your best tips for prepping for an appraisal

[Paul J.]

Hey all, I am preparing my home for an appraisal. Looking to open a HELOC to fund my continuing real estate adventure, and the higher we go, the more I will be able to do to expand the business.. So, I was wondering what folks thought the best tips for getting the most out of your appraisal. We have kept up pretty well on updates and repairs, but looking for things we can do in the last 2 weeks to present the house well. So far I have heard: *prepare a list of updates and costs that you have performed *have some pre-printed comps to present to the appraiser. *do not hover over him or her too much, point a few things out but mainly let them do their job *lock up your animals Any other quick tips for staging or getting max value that anyone knows of??

[Brett K.]

The quick & dirty; prepare your house like you are hosting an open house. It should be neat & clean, & smell good.

Take a look at trulia or zillow to see what houses that are similar to yours are getting top dollar. Usually the properties getting the most $$ per sq./ft. are updated and decorated in a style attractive to their market segment. An appraiser is going to do the same thing on the MLS and try to match your house up accordingly.

Be honest with yourself. If your house is dirty and smells like pee the appraiser is going to try to find a property like that to stick into their report. If it sparkles like gold, he's going to stick some of those properties into his grid.

Keep in mind they try to choose properties that are similar in age, size, style, & build quality, that are as near as possible.