Prior to the appraiser coming to inspect your home, clean it as best you can, i.e.; don’t leave clothes laying around, vacuum the floors, clean the kitchen of debris, clean the baths, mow the lawn, etc. All the things you would do if you were trying to sell the home and the realtor was calling to show it to a buyer. If the home is in need of a coat of paint inside or out or pressure washing on the outside, it is well worth the cost to have this done before the appraisal is performed. Paint and/or pressure washing is the least expensive way to get the most out of your appraisal. When the home is neat and clean, the appraiser will likely view it as being in good overall condition. You would be surprised how many people leave their home in far less than good condition, for the appraiser to see. Depending upon how good everything looks, this could easily add a few thousand dollars to the appraised value of your home. Overall impressions are very important!

When the appraiser comes to your home, they will take photos of the front, rear and street scene. If you have stuff (“junk”) sitting around outside of your home, please clean the area up as this could affect your appraisal. The underwriter who reviews the appraisal, looks closely at these photos and if it looks like you have a lot of “stuff” lying around, it could affect the appraised value, as they have the power to reduce the appraiser’s value estimate on your home.

Occasionally the appraiser will shoot a few interior photos, so you want to make sure everything looks clean and tidy. They will then measure the outside of your home. This requires that they go all around the perimeter of your house with a tape measure. If the shrubbery around the home is nicely trimmed, it is easy to measure. If you have bushes right up alongside your home and they are overgrown, it makes it very difficult to get an accurate measurement and you don’t want the appraiser struggling around bushes and possibly cutting themselves on thorns, holly bushes, etc. Landscape definitely has an impact on value. Not to mention that shrubbery close to your home can be a breeding ground for termites, where they are prevalent in certain regions of the country.

The Appraiser will look into your crawl space, so don’t have a lock on it, make it accessible to the appraiser. Here is an example of what they DO NOT want to find. It is best to have a vapor barrier installed by a professional and no water or moisture present. This home had a grading problem, it sat down in from the street and water was flowing into the front of the home and into the crawl!

When the appraiser is inspecting your home, it is best not to follow them around, inside or outside. Appraisers have a routine that they follow during the inspection process and you do not want to distract them. You want to make sure that any measurements they take inside or out are accurate as this has a direct affect on value. They also make several notes on the amenities of your home. Distractions may lead to mistakes. You don’t want that! The appraiser will ask questions or for help when they are ready.

What affects the Value of my home-Part I

Square footage has the largest affect on value, aside from Location, Location, Location. So if you decide to enclose a screen porch or other area, make sure you at least HEAT that area, as this will add square footage and thus value. If you do not heat the area, it can only be considered and valued as an enclosed porch, which gets a lower per dollar value estimate than an area which is heated. By heated I mean centrally heated, not a space heater. An attached wall heater will suffice and be counted as heated square footage. **Most appraiser’s will give you square footage credit for a 2 story foyer due to the finishing of the area above the foyer, i.e.; tray ceilings, light fixture, windows, etc., but not for a 2 story family or living room. Since square footage variances can mean literally thousands in appraised value, I would highly recommend that you know exactly what the heated square footage of your home is before an appraisal is completed. You can either measure it yourself room by room or get that information from the builder if you can. Appraiser’s measure from the outside of the house, rather than inside. They will measure inside rooms many times on two story homes as they cannot measure this area from the outside. You can measure each one of your rooms and calculate the size of your home to within 100 feet of what an exterior measurement would be. If you take the length times the width of a given room that is your square footage for that room. Add the square footage of each room together for the total square footage. Do not measure garages, porches or decks as this is not heated space.

This is the first in a series of articles that affect home values…more to follow, including "Real Estate Appraisal Myths".