How Do Rising Prices Affect Appraisals?

Athens Real Estate Podcast with Justin Woodall

Home values are on the rise in the Athens market, but rising values can often signal appraisal issues. Here's where our market currently stands on that issue. Looking to sell a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here for a Home Price Evaluation

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The Athens market is improving and prices are on the rise. However, rising prices can cause issues with appraisals. Any time a property changes ownership and the buyer gets a loan, the lender will require an appraisal. So are properties appraising now that values are going up? Our experience has been that properties aren't having appraisal issues on either the buyer's or seller's side. Of course, you want a house to appraise because you want the deal to work out.

Sometimes, sellers are concerned when I tell them that they can price their home above what past sales show due to low inventory. The concern is that the house won't appraise at a value above recent sales even if it sells at that price. So how does that work?

An appraiser's job is to justify a home's sale price to the bank.

The appraiser knows the purchase price of the contract before they perform the appraisal. It sounds crazy, but what it boils down to is that when a bank hires an appraiser, their job is not to determine the value of the property (the market determines value), but to justify that price and value for the bank. The bank wants to be sure they don't lend more money on the house than it's actually worth. When the appraiser knows the purchase price, their job is to pull sales and make adjustments to show that the purchase price is a realistic, fair market price that the bank won't be overpaying for. Most of the time, as long as an appraiser can do this within the appraisal guidelines, they will. Most of the time, we've been coming out OK.

Next time, we'll discuss exactly what happens for buyers and sellers if a house appraises low. In the meantime, if you haven any questions or you're thinking of buying or selling a home in the Athens area, give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help you!