How to Show Off Your Rockland House During the Appraisal
The moment when you receive an offer is very exciting. As much as you are ready to get the process finished, there are several steps that still need to be completed. One of them is the Rockland home appraisal. If the appraiser does not appraise the Rockland house for enough, then your offer could fall through.
Here are some tips to help you show off your Rockland house for the appraiser:
Look through the eyes of the appraiser
When you live in a Rockland house for a while, you begin to overlook the things that other people notice when first coming into your house. On top of that, an appraiser has an eye that is trained to look for certain aspects of the house.
Take the time to walk through your house with a critical eye. Look for areas that need to be improved, cleaned up, or fixed. You want the property and the house to look like you have been taking good care of it.
Take care of the maintenance
It’s easy to let some maintenance go on your Rockland house. However, these are areas that you want to take care of before the appraiser comes over. Make sure doors and windows open and close easily and don’t squeak, clean out the gutters, and repair any plumbing leaks. Doing some minor updates can be helpful, such as putting on a fresh coat of paint.
However, you don’t need to go so far as to do a major renovation. Large construction projects are difficult to estimate a time of completion and you don’t want to chance the appraiser coming while the house is in pieces.
Help the appraiser out
It can help the appraiser if you let them know when recent updates have taken place at your property. They will want to know things like when the roof was finished or the windows replaced. If you have recently replaced the HVAC system, electrical, or plumbing, make sure to list that out for the appraiser. Don’t highlight improvements that you made if you did not pull the proper permits to complete the work.
Shine it all up
A de-cluttered and clean house always look better than they would otherwise. When you know the appraiser is coming, you need to have your house deep cleaned from the top to the bottom. Do your best to have your house resemble rooms from a magazine, clean and simple. Stick with the “less is more” approach when it comes to your belongings. You want the house to look like there is plenty of space, and remember cluttered always looks messy.
Don’t forget to ask for help from your real estate agent. An experienced agent will be able to make recommendations for you after walking through your house. They work in the industry every day and are experienced on what the value of market is. If the appraisal does not come out in your favor, ask your agent what the best course of action is from that moment on.