Pre and Post Listing Appraisal Benefits

23 Feb Pre and Post Listing Appraisal Benefits

More recently, real estate agents and homeowners have hired a real estate appraiser as a 3rd party to gain a neutral opinion of the property in question.   Here are some pre-listing and post-listing appraisal benefits.

Advantages of a Pre-Listing Appraisal-

1) The real estate agent and homeowner may have differing opinion’s of value and the appraiser may be able to bridge the gap with a realistic estimated value.

2) This will keep communication positive between the homeowner and agent and will hopefully contribute to the home selling quicker when listed on the market.  The process of selling a home can be a stressful and emotional process. Let an appraiser help as an additional party to assure the homeowner is selling their home at the highest and most realistic price.

Advantages of a Post-Listing Appraisal-

1) After the property has been listed on the market with adequate exposure time and is not generating interest or offers, price is typically the #1 factor.  Before reducing, sometimes hiring a post-listing appraisal is a great vehicle to get a 3rd party opinion of the property’s estimated value and also further help identify possible trends in the market.

2) The appraiser may be able to offer some tips and advise on what improvements have been completed by the competing homes that may be contributing to the appeal of a buyer compared to the subject property.

General Thoughts about the Current Market-

Demand will vary in different price categories. In many market areas, the entry level market generally has a shortage of inventory with buyers possibly bidding up list price and/or market trends. The lack of inventory combined with downward pressure of interest rates contributes to this.

However, if the segmented market is balanced and/or has an over-supply of homes, pricing one’s home at the right price is imperative to not miss out on the initial market exposure. If priced too high, buyers will recognize this and simply pass on viewing one’s home and move on. After a certain period of time, without proper price reduction and high days on market (DOM), a home can then have a certain negative stigma as possibly having some aspect (condition, location) impacting the marketability, etc.  When I am completing an appraisal report and see a closed sale, pending sale and/or active listing with high DOM, I attempt to call the agent to verify the reasons why. Sometimes, there is an issue as noted above (condition, location, etc.), but other times, it simply was the home was priced too high to start and waited too long for a price reduction(s). As a result, the the home may have sold lower than if it was priced correctly to begin with.

Summarizing, there are many advantages to both the pre-listing and post-listing appraisal that many benefit both the realtor and homeowner. The return may be far greater than to cost of an appraisal. Any thoughts or comments?

Disclaimer: All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. The information is meant entirely for educational purposes and casual reading only and is NOT intended for any other use.  This information is NOT intended to support an opinion of value for your appraisal needs or any sort of value conclusion for a loan, litigation, tax appeal or other potential real estate or non real estate purpose. This appraiser is NOT a qualified home inspector and any tips are for informative purposes only. If you’d like to obtain and order an appraisal for your specific needs, please contact Bryan at 530-878-1688 for more information.