Bank appraisal value and asking price - for sale by owner.

[gerapau]

Originally Posted by hellokittygirl

I guess if you have a "cookie cutter" home then this would suffice but at the end of the day

Only if the recent sales in your area have been cookie cutter homes.

Originally Posted by hellokittygirl

But as gerapau stated, (and I'm in the same boat) when you have expensive upgrades like a custom wood (not MDF kitchen), lot premium, basically the QUALITY of upgrades then online tools would be doing you an injustice and significantly under value your home.

The funny thing is that I am in the opposite boat. When we recently purchased our new home we spent over $125k in options/lot premiums. So I would expect this tool to underestimate our home but in fact this tool gives me an evaluation that is roughly $100K more than what our home is worth. The problem is that similar homes that have sold in our area recently have mostly been golf course lot homes with tons of upgrades.

This tool may be usefull if you are interested in a very rough idea of what you home is worth but if you are planning on selling your home this tool is more or less useless (to me, any number that isn't reliable is more or less useless). If you want to know what your home is worth then you have to look at recent sales in your area and adjust based on the features of your home compared to those homes. Unfortunately these numbers aren't available to most people and that is where a realtor would come in.

[hellokittygirl]

Originally Posted by gerapau

If you want to know what your home is worth then you have to look at recent sales in your area and adjust based on the features of your home compared to those homes. Unfortunately these numbers aren't available to most people and that is where a realtor would come in.

And how does this statement differ from what I said?

Remember, the initial comment that sparked this thread had to do with appraised value (i.e.: the bank's assessment) versus fair market value (i.e.: what is someone willing to pay for my house)?

Bottomline - if you want to know FMV, get a realtor that KNOWs your area and specializes in the type of home you're selling in order to get top-dollar.

[gerapau]

Originally Posted by hellokittygirl

And how does this statement differ from what I said?

It doesn't. I agree with you and I guess I was just reiterating what you had said. My main point was that the tool that Irene mentioned can be very unreliable and is nowhere near as accurate as a good realtor.

[jeeva86]

Is there such a thing as an appraisal for new construction homes? My lender wants it but how can someone go in?

[oakvillehomeowner]

Originally Posted by jeeva86

Is there such a thing as an appraisal for new construction homes? My lender wants it but how can someone go in?

absolutely. if the seller won't permit it until closing, you're in a bit of a pickle, but my lender was able to visit the development and "appraise" without officially entering the property. they're really just trying to make sure the asset they're loaning against exists and is roughly worth the purchase price disclosed.