Choosing to get a market appraisal on your home does not always coincide with wanting to sell your home – you may be looking to refinance, may want an update following some improvements you have made, or wanting to use equity to purchase an investment property for example.

With the numerous online platforms offering instant estimated property values, why then should you consider getting a full written appraisal of your home? Online, or “desktop” appraisals may be a useful guide, but they have not inspected your home in person and so cannot take account of the condition of the property, the quality of the build or fixtures and fittings, property orientation and aspect, views, or added value and improvements etc.

An accurate appraisal is important to help you make well-informed decisions. The salesperson should visit your property in person (without having done so they can be at risk of breaching rule 5.1 of the REA Code of Conduct) prior to preparing the appraisal. It should include a list of comparable properties that have sold, along with an explanation of how your home compares – is it highly comparable, or superior, or inferior? The salesperson should explain why they have included properties for comparison, and how they arrived at the appraised amount. They need to realistically reflect current real estate market conditions. In the event there is no comparable data to draw from (very unlikely in Millwater), this should be explained in writing.

Now, having been in this highly competitive business for a while, we also know that every now and then a salesperson will give a very aspirational appraisal value, what we call “buying the listing”. This can work because everyone wants to believe their home is worth more, and in a rising market you might just catch up to the appraised value. It’s worth paying attention though, because if you decide to sell, an optimistic appraisal may see you sitting on the market much longer than expected because buyers don’t see the value where you do, and it gets to the point where they are asking “what’s wrong with it?” It always pays to get more than one opinion, and you can always tell the agents you will automatically disregard the one that comes in with the highest appraisal – keep them honest..!!

If a market appraisal is on your radar, please do get in touch with us. We are trusted, multi-award winning local agents with the reputation and testimonials to prove it. We would love to hear from you.

Call us today to book an obligation-free chat. We love putting our vast experience to work helping owners in our community make smart real estate decisions.