Congratulations! You’ve been preapproved for a home mortgage, found your dream home, negotiated an tranquil sales price, and successfully maneuvered through the home inspection process. You now have the fully executed sales contract for your new house.

Next, on to the home appraisal.

You’ll need a home valuation unendingly you take out a loan from a mortgage lender. The valuation process can get bumpy sometimes, but it’s an important and enlightening part of ownership a home.

If you’re a first-time homebuyer, you might not realize how many steps there are until you’re in the thick of it. It helps to prepare yourself for the valuation process and know how long it will take superiority of time.

How long does a home valuation take?

It takes most appraisers 1-3 hours to physically inspect a home, but some valuation inspections take less than an hour. It can then take up to a week or two to get the final valuation report.

After the appraiser visits the property, they’ll squint at comparable home sales in the area. They factor these properties into their valuation report withal with everything they found during their physical inspection.

An valuation can take longer depending on the appraiser’s workload and the current housing market in your area. The size and complexity of the property can moreover stupefy the valuation timeline.

For example, it will often take longer to inspect and prepare reports for 6,000 square-foot homes in Dallas, TX than 1,500 square-foot houses in Seattle, WA.

What is an appraisal, and why do I need one?

A home appraisal is an unbiased estimate of your home’s value performed by a licensed real manor appraiser. Here’s why you might need one:

• First, your mortgage lender will likely need an appraisal. By providing an estimate of the pearly market value of your home, an valuation assures the lender they aren’t lending increasingly money for a property than it’s worth.
• An valuation moreover protects you by proving you aren’t paying increasingly for the home than you should.

Who orders the valuation and when?

Your mortgage visitor or lender usually orders the valuation once the home inspection is well-constructed and repair negotiations have been finalized.

The proprietrix pays for the appraisal. The home valuation cost is usually between $300 to $400, depending on the property. It may be increasingly expensive for worthier or increasingly ramified properties.

The proprietrix usually isn’t there on the day of the appraisal. The seller can be present, but their real manor wage-earner usually steps in for them. That way, the wage-earner can wordplay any questions that come up while the appraiser is inspecting the property.

Once the valuation process is complete, you’ll be ready to move forward with a title company and tropical on your new home.

What happens during an appraisal?

During an appraisal, an appraiser visits the home and thoroughly inspects it. They’ll take time to examine the home exterior and lot, then come inside to squint at the interior.

They gather all the information they need to well-constructed a Uniform Residential Valuation Report. This detailed form includes measurements of the lot and each room in the home. They’ll moreover take pictures of each room, the home’s exterior, and the yard.

Here’s what appraisers squint at in order to prepare their report:

Property condition

Homes will often valuate for less when there are well-spoken signs of structural problems or damage. The appraiser will trammels things like:

• Condition of the roof and foundation
• Condition of the walls, ceilings, and floors
• Construction quality and towers material
• Structural integrity (how well the home holds up under its own weight)

Measurements and features

Next, the appraiser will take note of the home’s dimensions and features, including its location. This includes:

• Age of the home
• Square footage
• Number of bedrooms and bathrooms
• How functional the layout is
• Recent renovations, updates, or repairs
• Heating and cooling systems
• Included appliances
• Home location
• The surrounding zone (including nearby schools)

Comparable sales

Once the appraiser has the information they need, they’ll use real manor software to see how the recently sold properties nearby compare to yours. These are comparable sales, sometimes tabbed “comparables” or “real manor comps” for short.

Appraisers often squint within a quarter- or half-mile radius of your home. They might use distances of a mile or increasingly if the homes in your neighborhood are remoter apart.

Appraisers trammels similar properties for things like age, size, overall condition, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the home’s location in the neighborhood, and more.

The appraiser will use comparable sales withal with their older inspection notes to decide the property’s pearly market value. Then, they’ll well-constructed the valuation report and forward it to your lender. You can then move forward in the closing process.

3 possible outcomes of a home appraisal

When the final report comes in, the valuation value could go one of three ways:

1. The valuation comes in lower than the agreed-upon price

Let’s say you well-set to pay $250,000 for a house, but the valuation says the home is only worth $240,000. You have several options:

• Request an valuation review. A variegated licensed appraiser prepares an self-sustaining report using the same valuation elements. The reviewer then comments on the verism of the first appraisal.
• Offer to pay the difference. You could pay the spare $10,000 in closing costs to make up the difference between the appraised value and the agreed-upon price. Some closing financing are tax-deductible.
• Ask the seller to lower the purchase price. If the seller agrees, they would take $10,000 off the home price, reducing it to $240,000.
• Compromise with the seller. You can try to meet the seller halfway. In one scenario, you might offer to pay $5,000 in latter financing and ask the seller to lower the sale price by $5,000. This would make up for the unshortened $10,000 difference.
• Walk away. If you signed an appraisal contingency and still can’t come to an agreement, you can withdraw your offer without penalty. This tends to be the last resort for homebuyers since it can midpoint they have to start their home search from scratch.

2. The valuation comes in higher than the agreed-upon price

Great news, you just bought a home with some probity once built-in.

Let’s say you well-set on a $250,000 price, but the valuation shows a property value of $260,000. In this case, you’d be starting with $10,000 worth of probity surpassing you plane make your first payment.

The seller can’t demand increasingly money if an valuation comes when higher than expected, so the home sale can move forward as planned.

3. The valuation matches the agreed-upon price

Sometimes the appraised home value matches the agreed-upon purchase price exactly. This ways the buyer, seller, and lender are all happy, and the ownership process can move forward without uneaten negotiations.

Home valuation FAQs

Why is my valuation taking so long?

Waiting for your valuation report can be nerve-wracking, expressly when it takes longer than expected. This can happen for a couple reasons:

• Large homes can requite appraisers increasingly things to consider during their evaluation. In some cases, you may need to wait for an appraiser who’s qualified to assess that specific property.
• Sometimes an appraiser is rented finishing other projects, so it takes them longer to well-constructed your appraisal. There can moreover be work shortages in unrepealable areas due to upper demand or a lack of qualified appraisers.

Either of these scenarios will stupefy the final valuation timeline.

When does the proprietrix get the valuation report?

The proprietrix receives the valuation report without the appraiser has physically inspected the property, assessed comparable properties in the area, and factored everything into a final appraised value. Once they’ve finalized the report, they’ll send it to the mortgage lender that ordered it.

It can take a few days to a few weeks to get an valuation report back. If you haven’t heard anything without a while, ask your real manor wage-earner or lender if they can offer any updates.

How long does it take to get an valuation scheduled?

You can usually get an valuation scheduled within a day or two of it stuff ordered. Like other parts of the home ownership process, workforce shortages and the appraiser’s workload could stupefy availability.

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