Toronto Home Appraisals

An appraisal is conducted by the residential real estate appraiser. This person is a licensed, third-party appraiser having no connection with the seller, lender, or the buyer of the property. This means that all the parties can be sure of an unbiased and fair appraisal of the concerned property. The process of appraisal is usually ordered by the lender. The costs of the appraisal are paid by the borrower.

On average, most appraisals cost around $300-$600. It is important to mention that the cost of the appraisal is influenced by many factors such as the size of the home, its type, location, the condition of the home, and many other factors. All these factors affect the time, effort, and work that go into the process of Toronto home appraisal.

Before ordering the appraisal, it is important to put an offer in the home. It is further signed in the form of a purchase agreement. After this, the process of an appraisal starts. Once the appraisal has been ordered, the appraisal shall come for the inspection of the home.

The inspection of certain parts of the home is done, depending upon the kind of loan you get. Such inspection is carried out to know more about the property, its features, and to make sure that the concerned property is in a good state and there are no issues in terms of safety and security. Once the inspection is completed, the appraiser then reviews the comps to come up with a fair market value of the property. For this purpose, a report is created by the appraiser that contains a detailed description and information of the property, its condition, basic features, unique features, and other important factors.

If the appraisal is made at or above the price of purchase of the home, the loan is processed as usual. If the price of the appraisal is lower than the agreed-upon purchase amount, more steps are required to be taken. This is because, in this situation, the lender cannot lend money more than the overall worth of the home.

Once the house appraisal Toronto is completed and the purchase price is set, the lender then finalizes the terms and conditions of your loan. You will get a closing disclosure containing all the details of your down payment, closing costs, etc. after which you will close on the loan.

The job of the appraiser is to assign a fair market value to the concerned property. The assessment is completed after looking at different things and features affecting the price or impacting the decision of the lender to loan you money for the home. These factors include the following:

• Safety and health hazards
• The structural integrity of the property
• Condition of the property
• Scope of upgrades and improvements
• Visible defects
• Other conditions set down by the seller.

Apart from this, exterior and interior factors are also taken into consideration. The exterior checklist includes the land area of the property, condition of the roof, chimney, driveway surface, pool, garage, quality of landscaping, etc. The Interior checklist includes the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, basement, crawl space, HVAC system, quality of the paint, plumbing, electricity, general condition and upkeep of the home, etc.

Apart from checking the interior and exterior condition of the home, the appraiser also looks into the repairs. You can prepare for the Toronto home appraisal in the following manner:

• Check if the electric garage door opener is working well
• Secure the railing
• Make sure that all the utilities are functional having no safety issues
• Make sure that the water, air conditioning, and electricity are functional
• Make plumbing repairs, and repairs of leaks and stains
• Check for the cracks in the ceiling, wall, or foundation
• Check for the intrusion of water through the foundation
• Make sure that the roof is sound and entertains 3 years of remaining economic life.

Once you have addressed the above-listed concerns, you will be able to carry out a smooth process of home-buying and the value of your home will become higher. Apart from this, you must also take care of the appearance of the home.

The average duration of any home appraisal is 120 days or 4 months. If you do not close on your home within the time so provided, you will have to host another appraisal. Some people can be excused the extension; however, this happens only under certain valid situations and circumstances. The shorter lifespan of a home appraisal is because of the alterations in market conditions. Home sales carried out 6 months ago might be entirely different from the ones done in recent months, especially when the market of real estate is volatile.