You just sold your house and are getting ready for the appraisal. Here is how contracts and sales of similar homes affect the appraisal.
Your Contract
The contract between people who are not related to each other for the sale and purchase of the home is one of the things an appraiser looks at to figure out how much the home is worth. Even though it may sound strange, appraisals often go down when relatives sell something. So, if you're not selling your home to a relative, make a clean copy of your contract and give it to the appraiser who looks at your home.
Comparable Sales
Most of the time, when you sell your main home, the person who buys it will also make it his main home. In this situation, an appraisal usually gives the most weight to what similar houses have recently sold for in the same neighbourhood or nearby. It doesn't pay much attention to the property's ability to bring in rental income or how much it would cost to replace it.
So, the appraiser will look for homes in your area that have been sold in the last few months. Tell the appraiser if you know of a similar home that was sold for a good price. First, though, make sure that your information is correct. Don't just talk about what's going on around you. Check at the courthouse to see what the price is.
Be careful with how you deal with these last two ideas. You want to seem calmly helpful and straight to the point. You don't want to give the appraiser the idea that you don't think he can do his job well.
