Don?t Rely Excessively On Appraisals

Getting an appraisal on a home is a fundamental aspect of making a purchase. While appraisals are certainly helpful, you should not put too much stock in them.

An appraisal is a valuation of a property by an independent appraiser. The appraiser does an evaluation of the home, considers the home in comparison to others of comparable type and so on. Once completed, the appraiser then issues a written appraisal value of the home. Many homebuyers make the assumption the appraisal is the true value of the home both now and in the future. This can be a dangerous assumption.

First, appraisals are limited by something known as a moment in time. The appraisal done today, may not be entirely relevant a month or two later. If a property has been on the market for a few months, the appraisal may not reflect a slowing market. This, in turn, means the appraised value is actually higher than the current market will support. Homebuyers run into problems when this occurs because they put too much value on the appraisal. A seller will often list the home below the appraised amount and homebuyers will think they are getting a deal. In reality, they are not and may actually be paying more than a new appraisal would support. The older the appraisal, the less value you should put into it.

Most homebuyers assume an appraiser inspects the home for defects and discounts the value of the home accordingly. This is not really the case. An appraiser is not really doing a critical home inspection. In fact, the appraiser contract and/or report usually contains a long disclaimer whereby the appraiser covers his derriere by noting he assumes the property is in good condition and isn?t liable if it is not. Obviously, that should scare you. This, of course, is why you should insist on a home inspection for any property you make an offer on.

An appraisal is a solid part of the equation when considering a home purchase. It is not, however, the piece de resistance when valuing the property.

Posted by Judy Arnold on December 13, 2008 at 12:00 AM

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Judy Arnold is affliated with Weichert REALTORS, which is located in Easton, PA. For further assistance please use the contact information located on the right.

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Local Information for Easton, PA

Latitude: 40.688248 -- Longitude: -75.216458

ZIP Codes for Easton, Pennsylvania	18040 18042 18043 18044 18045
Area Code for Easton, Pennsylvania	610
Time zone for Easton, Pennsylvania	EST

Other Area Cities: Easton, PA Bethlehem, PA Catasauqua, PA Allentown, PA Pittsburgh, PA

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Easton is a city in Northampton County, in the eastern region of Pennsylvania, in the United States. The population was 26,263 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Northampton CountyGR6. Along with Allentown and Bethlehem, Easton is one of three primary cities that comprise the Lehigh Valley region, the state's third most populous metropolitan area. Easton is the easternmost city of the Lehigh Valley, sitting on the confluence of the Delaware River (which divides Pennsylvania and New Jersey) and the Lehigh River, for which the Lehigh Valley is named. Easton is the smallest of the three Lehigh Valley cities, with approximately one-fourth of the population of the largest Lehigh Valley city, Allentown. Easton is almost equidistant from Philadelphia, which is 60 miles (100 km) to the south, and New York City, which is 70 miles (110 km) to the east. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Pennsylvania 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Easton	Pennsylvania	United States
Population	26,263	12,281,054	281,421,906
Median age	32	38	35.3
Median age for Male	30.9	36.5	34
Median age for Female	33.2	39.4	36.5
Households	9,544	4,777,003	105,480,101
Household population	23,503	11,847,753	273,643,273
Average household size	2.46	2.48	2.59
Families	5,738	3,208,388	71,787,347
Average family size	3.1	3.04	3.14
Housing units	10,545	5,249,750	115,904,641
Occupied units	9,544	4,777,003	105,480,101
Vacant units	1,001	472,747	10,424,540

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Don?t Rely Excessively On Appraisals

Local Information for Easton, PA

Latitude: 40.688248 -- Longitude: -75.216458

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