Getting Home Ready For Appraiser

[Mike Lynch]

Hi,

My wife and I are almost ready to call to Appraiser for our first home flip. The home was built in 2001. He or She will come out and take measurements, photos, etc. 

Question:   Since we did a considerable amount of sweat labor ourselves and spent quite a bit on appliances, paint, flooring, plumbing, electrical, materials, and contractor labor and materials, do I need to write up an itemized list of the labor and materials and give it to them, or just write a list of the things that has been done? ... It seems like it would make more sense if they knew exactly how much labor, time, and material costs that we have invested before they just start pulling comps. ... I'm sure that some of the comps that they pull will have old 16 year original materials, fixtures, flooring, paint, plumbing, lighting, etc. Many of our items are brand new, so you can't compare old things to new things. We tried really hard not to overbuild and over buy, but we had to replace and rehab the things that needed it.

How do you all let the the appraiser know all of the details of your rehab, and how far into detail do you go with them?

Thanks,

Mike

[Brian Pulaski]

I have never had an appraiser care what I spent or updated. If you spent $300,000 on a house only worth $200,000, it doesn't matter. I have pulled sold comps and given those to appraisers, but the truth is your soft close super nice cabinets that you paid a premium to have installed do not really add a huge value to the house. You can only make it "so nice" before you are simply spending more money.