Real Estate Appraisals: A Primer

A home purchase can be the most important transaction most might ever encounter. It doesn't matter if it's a main residence, an additional vacation home or a rental fixer upper, the purchase of real property is a detailed transaction that requires multiple parties to make it all happen.


	To learn more about appraising, click here to see a short video or call us today to talk about your specific property.

You're probably familiar with the parties taking part in the transaction. The real estate agent is the most familiar entity in the transaction. Next, the lender provides the financial capital necessary to finance the exchange. The title company ensures that all details of the sale are completed and that the title is clear to transfer to the buyer from the seller.

So what party is responsible for making sure the value of the real estate is in line with the purchase price? In comes the appraiser. We provide an unbiased estimate of what a buyer might expect to pay - or a seller receive - for a parcel of real estate, where both buyer and seller are informed parties. A professional Illinois licensed appraiser from Premier Title & Appraisal Services, Inc. will ensure you as an interested party are informed.

Appraisals start with the property inspection

Our first task at Premier Title & Appraisal Services, Inc. is to inspect the property to ascertain its true status. We must physically see aspects of the property, such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the location, and so on, to ensure they truly exist and are in the condition a typical person would expect them to be. The inspection often includes a sketch of the property, ensuring the square footage is accurate and illustrating the layout of the property. Most importantly, the appraiser looks for any obvious amenities - or defects - that would have an impact on the value of the house.

Next, after the inspection, we use two or three approaches when determining the value of the property: sales comparison and, in the case of a rental property, an income approach.

Cost Approach

Here, the appraiser uses information on local construction costs, the cost of labor and other elements to ascertain how much it would cost to replace the property being appraised. This estimate usually sets the maximum on what a property would sell for. The cost approach is also the least used predictor of value.

Paired Sales Analysis

Appraisers get to know the neighborhoods in which they work. We innately understand the value of specific features to the residents of that area. Then, the appraiser looks up recent sales in close proximity to the subject and finds properties which are 'comparable' to the subject being appraised. By assigning a dollar value to certain items such as fireplaces, room layout, appliance upgrades, extra bathrooms or bedrooms, or quality of construction, we adjust the comparable properties so that they are more accurately in line with the features of subject property.

Say, for example, the comparable property has an extra half bath that the subject does not, the appraiser may subtract the value of that half bath from the sales price of the comparable.
If the subject has an extra half-bathroom and the comparable does not, the appraiser might add a certain amount to the comparable property.

At Premier Title & Appraisal Services, Inc., we are an authority when it comes to knowing the value of particular items in Danville and Vermilion County neighborhoods. The sales comparison approach to value is most often given the most weight when an appraisal is for a home purchase.

Valuation Using the Income Approach

A third way of valuing real estate is sometimes applied when a neighborhood has a reasonable number of rental properties. In this case, the amount of revenue the property yields is factored in with other rents in the area for comparable properties to give an indicator of the current value.

Coming Up With the Final Value

Analyzing the data from all approaches, the appraiser is then ready to state an estimated market value for the property in question. It is important to note that while this amount is probably the most reliable indication of what a house would sell for in an open market, it probably will not be the price at which the property closes. There are always mitigating factors such as the seller's desire to get out of the property, urgency or 'bidding wars' that may adjust the final price up or down. Regardless, the appraised value is often employed as a guideline for lenders who don't want to loan a buyer more money than the property would likely sell for in an open marketplace. The bottom line is: An appraiser from Premier Title & Appraisal Services, Inc. will help you discover the most accurate property value, so you can make wise real estate decisions.