HELOC appraisal, hint to the appraiser ?

[Jason Lamb]

Hi All, We have recently applied for HELOC thru a local bank, and are awaiting the appraiser and appraisal. My question is do I hint to the appraiser on what we are looking for?. Or is that shunned upon? Certainly don't want to offend him or her. I have done some research and very recent comps that makes me believe we will be appraised some where in the $155/sqft range. Any advice would be appreciated!

[Bob Okenwa]

@Jason Lamb

Hinting an what number you're looking for won't do you any good. You need to illustrate the value of the home by highlighting what is newer and what has been upgrade/fixed/replaced to increase the value of the home. You need to justify a higher appraisal number by showing just how great your home is compared to the comps. I recently purchased a new construction home and declined a ton of options and opted to take on some projects and the house appraised for 430k even though there were comps 1 street over that sold for 480k that were fully finished. Our house had white walls, basic light fixtures, etc. We came in painted the walls and stair rail, all of the doors, and cabinets, changed all of the light fixtures, added ceiling fans, and upgraded the thermostats to wi-fi ones instead of the basic ones. I'm sure we'd appraise for 450k-460k at least now.