Appraisal Insight. Wish I knew all this before!!!

[Cameron Price]

I got to meet with the appraiser today at my rental property in Darlington, SC. I'm pursuing a refi loan... probably going to go with a 30 year motgage. I asked a million questions while he was there and learned a ton of valuable insight. I wish I knew all this while rennovating the place. I'm going to share my personal experience/ insight, your mileage may vary :) 

My property is a 3 bed, 1 bath. Appraiser says that no adjustments are made to value based on number of bedrooms, but there are on bathrooms. The adjustment for bathrooms is 5K. So, if he finds a comp with 2 baths and everything else equal, my appraisal would be 5K less. Also, a half bath is a 2.5K adjustment.  That makes me wish i had slapped another toilet and sink somewhere in the house to get an additional $2.5K on this refi.

The new roof adds no value

The new windows add no value

The vinyl siding adds no value.

(I bilieve these are 2 sided statements, as the entire exterior of my property is now new compared to looking like crap before. I guess they dont add additional value other than being a rennovated property vs an ugly fixer upper property.) In other words, two propertys side by side, one with a new roof, the other with a roof 7 years old are the same value.

He said my custom wood countertop was nice but added no value. Granite would have been a value add. The fromica was a neutral item.

Overall, the kitchen and bathroom were the focal points. If "updated " they were a 5% adjustment vs a,non updated comparible property. I'm not 100% sure on what qualifies as updated as opposed to rennovated, but he mentioned granite and stainless.

I also learned that a room must have a closet and a window to qualify as a bedroom.

My front porch and my storage building were items that added value to comps without them as well. 

It seems I have discovered a whole new aspect to study and learn about. Does anyone have a good resource for appraisal basics? The appraiser could tell that I was,hungry to learn all I could amd told me to call him with any other questions. I dont want to constantly pester him, so I'd rathrr read up on this stuff and call with a specific question or 2 occasonally.

Feel free to share specifics from your experience as well. I feel like its important to know how your property appraisal will be calculated. After all, that is the amount that the bank will base value on regardless of investor or realtor opinion, right?