Whether you’re in the market for selling your home or applying for a loan, having your property appraised is the next step in the line. You’ll want to get the maximum amount you can, and that will solely depend on the appraised value of your home. The appraiser will determine the house’s value according to its position, size, structure, and many other similar factors. While you can’t change the neighborhood, you can make a few updates to your house and prepare it for the appraisal.
Many people assume that they need to perform a full house makeover to amaze an appraiser. It’s a common misconception, just like the one leading people to believe they shouldn’t touch anything in the house to make it look more natural. The first is dangerous because you might overspend unnecessarily and spend most of the received money on covering the makeover itself. The second belief leads to appraisers undervaluing your home.
To help you find a middle point and prepare your house for appraisal properly, we composed a list of key projects to perform on the exterior of your house. With the COVID-19 outbreak, having a spotless home exterior might be more important than ever. Most appraisers will even stay outside and focus on the things they can see without coming in close contact. Therefore, the following steps will show you how to increase your property value for an appraisal by focusing all your efforts on today’s most significant aspects.
This one seems logical and simple, but some people fail to mow their lawns before an appraisal. It’s crucial not to forget about this chore and do it just before an appraiser arrives. If you’re not sure how long the grass should be, stay with three inches. We also recommend you to trim and edge the lawn, which can even make weeds less noticeable.
Remember, even if the lawn looks good enough for you, the outsider might see it differently. Appraisers will look for clearance and perfection. If you are not sure about how your home looks, you can always go to the opposite side of the street and try to perceive it as a stranger. That will help you maintain objectivity and spot even the smallest issues you haven’t noticed before.
Curb appeal doesn’t really get into the final count for the appraisal, but it significantly influences the opinion of appraisers. Most of them give better end scores because they are driven by that important first impression. They also tend to think the rest of the house will look exactly like the properly maintained and aesthetically pleasing curb.
Along with mowing the lawn, removing weeds, trimming, and edging, there are a few other things you can do to improve the curb appeal. The first and most important one includes deep cleaning of driveways, walkways, patios, and decks. Clean exterior makes the curb look much better. Furthermore, make sure to leave the curb in plain sight for the appraiser. Remove all the tools, toys, bicycles, and other things you might have on the lawn.
Homeowners often fail to notice minor dents and cracks in the home exterior, and that’s what hurts a home appraisal. If the material is cracked, warped, or damaged in any other way, you’ll get negative points. Therefore, take your time to inspect the siding and perform the necessary repairs. The material replacement is sometimes even a better choice because it’s not costly and will increase the value of your home. Additionally, if you replace the siding with newer and better material, you’ll protect your home in the long run.
Another thing you should spend your time, effort, and money on is removing all the dead flowers, branches, trees. All these things can give appraisers the wrong impression, leading them to think you don’t take care of your home. In addition, adding a tree or two and planting new flower beds can quickly transform your home’s exterior. Blooming flowers are a great asset in property aesthetics, especially if they have a new layer of mulch.
When you finish up with all of these steps, take another glance at your home from across the street. Surely, your house looks much better with freshly mowed grass, repaired siding, and new flowerbeds. However, these upgrades might bring out some other minor issues such as paint cracks on your house. That’s definitely something you’ll want to fix. If you don’t have time or money to repaint the entire house, do so in the most problematic and obvious spots.
You should inspect some other little things in your home’s exterior as well. For example, look for potential cracks in your fence or replace the damaged doorknob everyone in the house has got used to overtime. We also recommend cleaning the exterior of your windows and watering your lawn and plants to make a better first impression. However, make sure to do it well before the appraisal, so an appraiser doesn’t end up with wet shoes.
With this list of upgrades for appraisal, you can quickly enhance the look of your exterior and make it more aesthetically pleasing. However, don’t forget to tackle some other jobs you might have around and inside your house. It’s common for homeowners to overlook faults in their homes because they grow familiar with them. For that reason, it’s crucial to think like an appraiser and look at everything around with fresh eyes. That way, you can find potential issues and proper ways to upgrade your exterior before an appraisal without spending too much of your time, money, and effort.
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