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3 Ways to Prepare Your Home for a Refinance Appraisal

East Coast Appraisal Service • Mar 22, 2022

As a homeowner, you may need to apply for a mortgage refinance at some point. One of the most compelling reasons to refinance your mortgage is to reduce the interest rate of your current loan. Other reasons for mortgage refinancing include adjusting your loan terms or switching mortgage firms.

However, before applying for a mortgage refinance, you need to get approved for refinancing through refinancing appraisal. Therefore, you need to prepare your home to get a higher appraisal. This article highlights three ways to prepare your home for a refinance appraisal.

Enhance Your Curb Appeal

When an appraiser comes to your home, the first thing they are likely to notice is your house's exterior. Therefore, if you want your appraiser to have a good first impression of your home, you need to improve the outward appearance of your property. Examples of things you may do to improve the curb appeal of your home include:

Plant flowers in strategic locations. Beautiful flowers can help you increase the aesthetic value of your property. Research flowers that are easy to grow and ensure they can survive in your climate. Also, ensure these flowers look bright and healthy by watering them regularly.
Mow your lawn. If your grass is long, you need to mow it. To keep the grass neat and uniform, use a mower with sharp blades to avoid tearing the grass.
Retouch your patio accessories. Enhancing your curb appeal is not only about landscaping. Therefore, you need to take care of everything displayed on your front patio since these accessories have an impact on your property value. Examples of ways to retouch your patio include sweeping, repairing broken furniture, and washing the seat cushions.

To keep everything in good shape, ensure you do these things shortly before the appraiser visits your home. You can also hire a professional to help you in this process.

Understand the Market

Nowadays, the real estate market keeps changing. Therefore, before you call an appraiser to your home, you need to do your homework by finding out how much similar houses in your area are selling for. These houses also need to have a similar number of bathrooms, bedrooms, and square footage to your house.

To get this information, you can visit your local county authority offices and ask for data on houses sold in your area within the past six months. You can also use online real estate databases to evaluate the value of properties in your region.

Researching houses similar to yours in your area helps you get a better picture of how much your house is worth and whether you can expect a favorable refinancing appraisal. This information can also help you contest your appraisal if the final amount is lower than estimated.

Make Repairs

Although you may have a big home with modern fixtures, your appraiser may have a negative attitude toward your house if anything in your home doesn't work. As a result, you may get a low appraisal rate.

Therefore, before the appraisal, ensure all your light switches, fans, vents, doorknobs, kitchen appliances, and security systems work properly. Also, if your walls, windows, doors, or tiles are cracked, be sure to repair them before your appraiser arrives.

Even though the appraiser is unlikely to check if everything is in good order, don't take chances. Therefore, ensure you have a checklist for all repairs. A checklist will help you remember all repairs so that you are not caught by surprise on the appraisal day.

Getting a refinance appraisal can be an overwhelming process. Therefore, if you want to avoid this stress, contact East Coast Appraisal Services for professional property appraisal services.

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