Re-assessing the home for refinancing

[smalltowngirl]

Hello all!

We just bought our house in Sept '08 but we bought when rates were almost 7%. We are refinancing and should be able to save nearly $200 a month, more when we can get rid of PMI.

We are having our house re-assessed on Friday. While we have done a lot of work so far and I'm hoping its worth a little more, even in this market, I'm not holding my breath.

I'm not sure how it will go as I was not at the first assessment before we bought the house. Will little things like just making it look as cute as possible help or does that only work on HGTV? Are they just looking at basic stuff?

Right now we are just cleaning and finishing up projects. Its obvious we are in the middle of some but there is nothing we can really do about that.

Any advice would be great!

Also is anyone else taking advantage of the low rates by doing a refi?

[SweaterGirl]

I have dealt with 3 appraisals recently. I asked the first appraiser I met to give me some background on the process since I was new to the real estate industry. He told me they do most of their work in their offices before they even get to the home. He also said the biggest thing appraisers consider when determining the value of a home are the comparable home sales in your neighborhood. They prefer to look at closed sales within the past 90 days; sometimes they will go back 6 months if necessary. There are a couple websites that show the estimated value of a home like Zillow.com & Trulia.com but I wouldn’t rely on their accuracy.

I have heard of people who have gone to an appraiser after he/she has done the appraisal and gotten them to increase the value. I would only suggest doing this if you have done a lot of investigating in your area and are prepared to back up your opinion with hard facts & show that they were mistaken.

I don’t think the little HGTV type things that can be done in a couple days make a HUGE difference in the value but if you have created a nice atmosphere in the home it certainly isn’t going to hurt.

I hope this helps. Good luck!
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[smalltowngirl]

that does, thank you! I will let you know how it goes.

[lookleft]

Yeah, for the bank appraisal, they noted whether the kitchen and bath were "updated" or "improved" or one of a few categories that all seemed to say the same thing -- it really just is nuts and bolts of the property. Making things cute shouldn't matter, finishing projects might -- but, hey, it's tomorrow, what are you gonna do?

Good luck...I hope it goes well!

[nap]

SweaterGirl is correct The majority of the work that happens when appraising a building is done in office. The appraiser will come out and take a look at the property but unless you made HUGE improvements they probably won't be factored into the appraisal.

I worked doing research for a real estate valuation firm for a 18 months and am pretty familiar with the process if you have any specific questions. My firm did commercial appraisals but the process is mostly the same.

[smalltowngirl]

We re-did our kitchen so that should help. yay!

[PencilSkirt]

I have had an appraisal for refinancing, but can't add more than has already been said. I just wanted to know how it went and what did you learn?