How to Get a Home Appraisal in Kansas City, Missouri

A home appraisal is a market valuation of real estate or property by a professional. Before a bank or lender will invest its money in your home loan, it will require an appraisal to make sure the property is as valuable as you say it is. The collateral for the loan must be valued at no less than the amount of the loan you are requesting, and the bank will usually choose the appraiser if you are buying. If you’ll be selling your Kansas City home, you can hire an appraiser to help set a price. To get a home appraisal, follow these steps.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Interview appraisers, seeking one with experience appraising real estate in your anticipated price range and area.
2. Check the Missouri State Real Estate Commission to ensure that your chosen appraiser has a valid, current license.
3. Ask about rates and timelines. Licensed appraisers are required to disclose fees and commissions. Timelines should include how long the appraisal will take, how soon an appointment is available and when the report will be ready.
4. Before the appraisal, clean and repair the property. Scrub dingy areas and remove clutter inside and out. Touch up paint where needed, repair any broken woodwork and fix leaky faucets. Spend a few dollars on flowering potted plants to dress up the entryways.
5. Make sure every part of the house and property is accessible. The appraiser will need to see the inside as well as out, so keep all entries and exits easy to navigate.
6. Upgrades like a recently replaced wood floor or carpet, heated floors, a new wood stove or solar-power capabilities may not be part of the closing record, but they can significantly alter the selling price of a home. Make sure you let your appraiser know about these. A bullet-point list of improvements and upgrades is useful to have on hand.
   
7. Be on time to your appraisal appointment. Professionalism on your part will reflect positively on your report.
8. Require a completed report before full payment. You may be asked for a partial payment upon appraisal, but a true professional will wait until he or she has completed the research and valuation before submitting the bill to you.
9. Inform your appraiser if (and, if you can, why) a home in your area sold far under or over market value.
10. When your report is completed, make sure it includes at least three market comparisons that are similar to your property.

Tips & Warnings

• Missouri offers three kinds of appraiser licenses, although they do not require them. A state license requires 90 hours of study; certified residential requires 120 hours of real estate appraisal education; ertified general requires 180 hours of study plus 1,500 hours of experience appraising real estate.
• Get a second opinion if an appraiser offers to buy your house. Some crooked appraisers will report a lower value, offer to buy the house and then resell the real estate for its actual value.
• Avoid unlicensed appraisers, since their valuation may not be accurate.
• Don’t leave leaky faucets, missing doorknobs, broken windows or hole-ridden walls for your appraiser to find—fix them first. While it may take $20 and a few hours to replace a leaky faucet, it could cost you $250 at the closing table.