How Long Does It Take to Get an Appraisal? Here’s What You Can Expect

Congratulations! You’ve been preapproved for a mortgage, discovered your perfect house, negotiated a fair sales price, and navigated the home inspection process with ease. For your new home, you now have a completely executed sales contract.

Then there’s the home appraisal.

Any time you take out a loan from a mortgage lender, you’ll require a house assessment. The appraisal process can be rocky at times, but it’s an essential and informative component of the home-buying process.

If you’re a first-time homeowner, you may not know how many stages there are until you’re in the middle of the process. It is beneficial to plan ahead of time for the assessment process and to know how long it will take.

How Long Does A Home Appraisal Take?

Physically inspecting a home takes most appraisers 1-3 hours, while some appraisal inspections take less than an hour. The final assessment report can then take up to a week or two to arrive.

After visiting the property, the appraiser will look at comparable house sales in the region. These properties, along with everything discovered during their physical inspection, are included in their assessment report.

The appraiser’s workload and the current housing market in your region may cause an appraisal to take longer. The appraisal schedule can also be influenced by the size and complexity of the property.

What Is An Appraisal, And Why Do I Need One?

A home appraisal is an unbiased assessment of the worth of your house conducted by a professional real estate appraiser. Here are some reasons why you might require one:

First, your mortgage lender will almost certainly want an appraisal. An appraisal ensures the lender that they are not financing more money for a property than it is worth by providing an estimate of its fair market value.

An appraisal also protects you by demonstrating that you are not overpaying for the house.

When And Who Orders The Appraisal?

Once the home inspection is completed and repair agreements are closed, your mortgage company or lender will generally request the appraisal. The appraisal is paid for by the buyer. The cost of a house appraisal ranges from $300 to $400, depending on the property. Larger or more complicated properties may be more costly.

The buyer isn’t normally present on the day of the appraisal. The seller may be there, but their real estate agent is normally in charge. This allows the agent to answer any questions that arise while the appraiser inspects the property.

Once the appraisal is completed, you will be able to work with a title firm to close on your new house.

What Goes During An Evaluation?

An appraiser visits the residence and extensively inspects it during an appraisal. They will evaluate the outside and lot of the house before coming inside to inspect the inside.

They collect all of the data required to create a Uniform Residential Appraisal Report. This comprehensive form includes dimensions for the property as well as each room in the house. They’ll also photograph each room, the house’s exterior, and the yard.

What appraisers look at to create their reports are as follows:

• Property condition
• Measurements and features
• Comparable sales