Welcome to the first post of this exciting and informative blog. The intent of this is to inform consumers about homebuying and the basics of what to expect. Most people are excited to be buying a home, whether it is one that is existing or a newly constructed home. One of the main components of buying that many overlook is the appraisal of the home. This is a process performed by someone to assure the lender(bank or mortgage company) that the home is worth, has enough “value,” to support the amount being loaned. This is supposed to be a very detailed process and many appraisers do just that, but looking into the data that is publicly available many appraisers are just looking at recent sales and making no adjustments to the property being purchased or using comparable sales similar to the property being purchased. The main focus of this blog is to be informative to home buyers so they are not buying homes that are not worth what the lender and appraiser say they are. This leads to an overvalued market that ends in disaster. Overvaluing also puts buyers in a position where they may not be able to keep up with maintenance or being able to repair or replace systems when they break, such as an HVAC unit or hot water heater. Future blogs will be more detailed and informative along with links to valuable resources to read and support what I am writing. This is the start of what I hope will be a great resource for homebuyers to gain the knowledge they need to make an informative decision on their largest and greatest endeavor in their lives. The page listed below has some great informational information about appraisal guidelines.
Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) (appraisalfoundation.org)