Preparing Your Home for Appraisal

Whether you are selling your home or looking to take out a home equity line of credit, in California you will need a current home value appraisal. There are small things you can do to prepare for an appraisal that will make the process go more smoothly and ensure that your home appraises at its maximum value. For those applying for a home equity line of credit or loan this is beneficial because the amount of credit you are extended will be based in part on the value of your home.

Tips for Preparing for the Appraisal

When you request an appraisal, or your potential lender does, an appraiser is sent to your home to do an inspection. Before they come you should gather the following information to present to them:

• Any recent home inspections, such as the one that was done before you purchased the home
• A list of home improvement projects you have completed around the house and any permits and code inspection reports that may have resulted from that.
• Receipts for recent repairs or purchases for major home features like appliances, roof, plumbing and heating and cooling. You may also want to have the warranty information on hand if these are still under warranty.

Tips for Ensuring the Best Appraisal

A good portion of your home value will be based on factors you cannot change, like property and land surveys, square footage and comparable home sales in your area. However there are some factors that you can affect. Here are some small things you can do to ensure the best possible value is appraised:

• Clean and de-clutter the house. Make sure the home inspector can move freely through the house and everything is accessible, this will help them make an accurate appraisal and tidiness can affect people's perception of how well cared for your home is. If you aren't cleaning or cant get to maintenance area's chances are you aren't keeping up with necessary maintenance and repairs.
• Fix any major problems you can and the small things too. Maybe you are taking out a loan to fix or replace an old roof and so cannot repair that ahead of the inspection, but anything else cosmetic or functional that you can afford to correct should be. So, fix the leaky faucet and repair the nail holes in the wall before the appraiser comes.
• Outdoors, making sure your lawn is cut and doing some simple, inexpensive landscaping can go a long way in presenting your home and in some cases may help increase home value.

During and After Appraisal

When the appraiser arrives, offer them the information you have gathered and then let them go about their business, you don't have to follow them around. If they have questions they will ask you. After the appraisal is complete, you are entitled to and should request a full copy of the report. This way you can make sure you agree with their statements and have a reference for what you can do before your next appraisal to increase you home's value.