A home appraisal is the best (and probably the most accurate) way
for you to determine the worth of your property. With this knowledge, you can
avoid overpricing your home and also defend your selling price in the event
that a buyer questions it. In order to ensure a just home appraisal, it’s
important to hire a professional appraiser, and this requires that you evaluate
him thoroughly before hiring him.
1.
Check him for his license to practice –
Unless the appraiser you’re considering falls under the Grandfather clause of the Philippines’ Real Estate Service Act (RESA), he
should have taken and passed the real estate appraisal exam in order to obtain
a license.
2.
Ensure that he has experience working
with homeowners – When a
property appraiser works for a loan officer, his main task is to evaluate a
home so that they’ll have an idea as to how much mortgage to grant a buyer.
It’s different when working with a homeowner, in that an owner usually asks
questions like what they can do to increase their home’s value, which an
appraiser should be able to answer.
3.
See to it that he’s very familiar
with your kind of property –
Doing so will ensure that his process of evaluating your home will be
customized to the type of residence you own. If you have a condo unit you want
to sell, it would only make sense to get an appraiser who does condos instead
of houses.
4.
Make sure he knows your area well – The similarities that one house has with another won’t indicate that they can be sold for the
same amount of money; if they are located in very different areas; their prices
can be as different as night and day. This is why it’s important that the
appraiser is aware of everything that’s going on in your area, such as what
civic developments are in action (zoning issues, infrastructure, etc.), what
kinds of homes are normally in that location, and what amenities are in close proximity
of the home (businesses, schools, malls, etc.).
5.
Check his references – Tell him you’d like to contact some of the people
he has worked with before so you can assess his capabilities as an appraiser.
It would also be a big plus if he is part of groups such as the Institute of
Philippine Real Estate Appraisers (IPREA) and the Philippine Association of
Realty Appraisers (PARA), as these organizations make sure that their members
always conduct their practices ethically, and they also provide seminars and
training to members who would like to further their training in the industry.
It’s considered a big mistake to set too high a
selling price for a home because it
will keep your property from being sold for a long time. The key to preventing
making this error and sell your property is to get an appraisal from a
professional with great qualifications.
