Scottsdale home evaluations are a key part of the home-buying and home-selling process. A seller will use home evaluations to help decide on an asking price, as well as determine which areas of their home and property need repair or replacement. In addition, most if not all mortgage companies will require an evaluation before approving a buyer’s loan.

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Scottsdale Home Evaluation

What Is a Home Evaluation?

Scottsdale home evaluation can actually mean one of three things: a comparative market analysis, an appraisal or a home inspection.

The First Scottsdale Home Evaluation: The Comparative Market Analysis

If you are preparing to sell your Scottsdale home, you’ve probably been offered a free Scottsdale home evaluation by local real estate agents. This increasingly popular service involves a quick comparative market analysis, which means the agent takes your zip code and house’s square footage and lets you know how comparable houses in your area have sold. The agent can also tell you how long houses in Scottsdale typically stay on the market, and whether or not there is currently a buyer’s market (little demand for homes) or seller’s market (lots of competition among buyers). This can often be completed instantly online.

While this information is useful in the planning stages, this kind of informal Scottsdale home evaluation should not be used to determine your asking price, since it is more of an estimate than an equation.

The Second Scottsdale Home Evaluation: The Appraisal

For the purposes of determining property taxes, satisfying mortgage lenders, and judging a home’s condition, you will need an official appraisal done by a professional who visits your property and thoroughly checks the interior and exterior of your home. The appraiser will then give you a more accurate dollar value. If you disagree with the appraisal, you have a legal right to a second opinion. This option is exercised most frequently when the appraisal is used for determining property taxes.

If you are a buyer, your mortgage lender will likely send their own appraiser to the property you want to buy, and will include the charge in your closing costs.

The Third Scottsdale Home Evaluation: The Inspection

If you are a buyer, you will be interested in a third type of evaluation, referred to as a home inspection. Since you must pay for this yourself, you will want to include a contingency in your offer that allows for you to withdraw or alter your offer if the inspection turns up major problems with the house. This is standard procedure.

During an inspection, a professional will thoroughly examine such areas as the roof, foundation, plumbing, electrical wiring, heating and cooling systems, ceilings, walls, floors, appliances, air vents and landscaping. They will check for any water or insect damage, and look to see if anything about the house construction or exterior property is not up to code. The inspector will then provide you with a complete analysis which you can then discuss with the seller. In a buyer’s market, you may request that certain repairs take place before you move in, or you may lower their offer. In a highly competitive seller’s market, you may not be able to make such requests, since there may be someone else perfectly willing to take the house as is. Your real estate agent can help you evaluate the market and decide whether you should take a house in its current condition or keep looking.

Each of these types of Scottsdale home evaluation plays an important role that helps both buyer and seller get a fair price with no surprises. For more information, contact an area real estate agent.

By Alisa Elizabeth King Terry

A REALTOR® is a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS®