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Re: home apprisal ?
Mainly, the appraisers look at the size of the property, interior square footage of the house, number of rooms (# of bedrooms, bathrooms, whether there is a formal dining room, a den, etc.), whether there is a basement, a garage. They will also factor in major improvements -- things like CAC, gas heat v. oil, updated kitchens or baths. Sometimes they want to know what year a certain room (e.g., kitchen) was renovated. They also factor in the age of the home.
Then, they look to see what has recently sold in your area that is fairly comparable to your home (making adjustments for size and condition as needed) to come up with a value.
Appraisals are generally pretty quick. Some people expect a second home inspection, but the appraisers just do a visual inspection, measure, take photos, and are usually in and out within 15 minutes.
They don't care about cosmetic updates, though, such as paint v. wallpaper or paneling, nice moldings, etc. Those things may sell your home to a buyer faster, but they don't really affect the appraised value in any significant way.
If your buyer is getting an FHA loan, the appraiser will also look for certain safety and compliance issues -- e.g., adequate number/location of smoke and CO detectors, stable hand rails for staircases, etc. So for an FHA loan, the appraiser's report will be on value as well as FHA compliance. But if anything is an issue with compliance, they are usually easy items to fix, and then the appraiser will just come back to re-inspect and make sure the repair/fix was made.
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