Preparing For Appraisals - Contracts And Comps
By Raynor James, Fri Dec 9th

You've sold your home and are getting ready for the appraisal.Here's how contracts and comparable home sales impact theappraisal.

Your Contract

One of the indications of value an appraiser takes intoconsideration is the contract that exists between unrelatedparties for the sale and purchase of the home. As odd as thismay sound, sales between

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relatives often downgrade an appraisalamount. So if you're not selling your home to a relative, make anice clean copy of your contract, and give it to the appraiserwho appraises your home.

Comparable Sales

In general, when you are selling your primary residence, theperson buying it is going to make it his primary residence, too.An appraisal done in that situation usually gives the most valueto what similar houses have sold for in the same neighborhood(or nearby) recently, and doesn't pay much attention to theability of the property to generate rental income or to what itwould cost to replace it.

Therefore, the appraiser is going to be looking for homes whichhave sold in your area in the past few months. If you know of asale of a similar home at a good price, tell the appraiser aboutit. Make sure your information is accurate first, however. Don'tjust share neighborhood gossip. Check the sales price at thecourthouse.

Be careful how you handle these last two suggestions. You wantto come across as quietly helpful and factual. You do not wantto convey to the appraiser that you question his ability to dohis job well.

About the author:Raynor James is with the FSBO site - http://www.fsboamerica.org- FSBO homes For Sale By Owner. Visit our "sell my home" page-http://www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm - to sell your houseyourself with a free 1 month listing.

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