How long does a home appraisal take?

The inspection itself usually takes 20 to 60 minutes for a typical single-family home. The written report normally follows within 3 to 7 days. Complex properties — acreage, waterfront, unusual construction — take longer, and a retrospective assignment takes longer still.

Who pays for the appraisal?

On a purchase or refinance the borrower normally pays, usually as part of closing costs, even though the lender is the client. For estate, divorce, tax appeal or private work, whoever engages the appraiser pays.

Can I be present during the appraisal?

Yes. Owners and their agents are commonly present. You may point out improvements and provide factual documents. You may not discuss what value you need.

What is the difference between market value and what I paid?

Price is what one buyer paid on one day. Market value is what a typical informed buyer would pay under normal conditions. They are often close and sometimes not.

Does a clean house appraise for more?

Cleanliness itself is not a value adjustment. Condition is. A tidy house lets the appraiser see the condition accurately, which is not nothing, but polish does not add value on its own.

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What is a home appraisal?

A home appraisal is an independent, written opinion of what a property is worth, prepared by a licensed or certified appraiser, supported by evidence, and produced for a stated purpose as of a stated date.

Each part of that sentence carries weight. Independent means the appraiser has no stake in the outcome. Written means the reasoning can be examined rather than taken on trust. For a stated purpose means an appraisal prepared for a refinance is not automatically usable for an estate. And as of a stated date means an appraisal is a photograph, not a live feed — it describes a specific day.

Why appraisals exist at all

Real estate is the least liquid asset most people own. Two identical-looking houses on the same street can differ in value by a wide margin, and neither one trades often enough for the market to tell you continuously what it is worth. When somebody has to make a decision that depends on the answer — lend against it, divide it, tax it, insure it, sell it, inherit it — somebody has to establish a number that will survive being questioned.

That is the job. Not guessing the price. Producing a defensible number.

Who orders one, and who the client is

This distinction confuses almost everyone, and it matters.

On a mortgage or refinance, the lender is the client, even though you pay for it. The appraisal is prepared for the lender's use in deciding whether the property adequately secures the loan. You are entitled to a copy — federal rules require the lender to provide one — but the report is not addressed to you and you cannot direct it.

Since 2009, appraiser independence rules have prohibited anyone with an interest in the transaction from influencing the appraiser. That is why lender work usually arrives through an appraisal management company: the layer exists to keep the loan officer away from the appraiser. It is bureaucratic, and it is there for a good reason.

In every other context — estate, divorce, tax appeal, a sale between family members, a bail bond, a private decision about whether to list — whoever engages the appraiser is the client, and the report is prepared for them.

What actually happens

The inspection. For a typical single-family home this takes 20 to 60 minutes. The appraiser measures the exterior, walks the interior, notes room count and layout, records condition and updating, photographs the property, and looks at the things that do not appear on a property card — an addition that was never permitted, a foundation issue, a converted garage, a view.

The research. Usually longer than the inspection. The appraiser identifies sales of genuinely comparable properties, verifies them, and works out what has to be adjusted between each comparable and the subject.

The report. Most residential lending work is reported on a Fannie Mae form — the 1004 for a single-family home, the 1073 for a condominium unit, the 1025 for a two-to-four-unit income property. Other assignments use other formats. The form is a container; the analysis is the product.

Typical turnaround is 3 to 7 days from inspection. Complex properties take longer, and they should.

What moves the number

In rough order of how much they matter:

Comparable sales. The single largest factor. Which properties genuinely compete with this one, what they sold for, and what has to be adjusted between them. Almost every disagreement about an appraisal is really a disagreement about comparable selection.

Location. Not the city — the specific street, the specific block, which side of the water, which phase of the community. Two addresses half a mile apart can be in different markets.

Size and layout. Gross living area, room count, and whether the layout is functional. A 2,400-square-foot house with a bad plan is worth less than one with a good plan.

Condition and effective age. A 1985 house renovated in 2022 does not behave like a 1985 house. Effective age is what the market responds to, not the year on the deed.

Site. Lot size, usable area, elevation, frontage, and what is on it. In South Florida this is where waterfront and acreage assignments are won or lost — dockage capacity, water depth, bridge clearance on one hand; usable versus wetland acreage and outbuildings on the other.

Market conditions. Whether prices were rising or falling between the comparable sale dates and the effective date, and by how much.

What does not move it

What you owe. The appraiser generally does not know and does not care.

What you need. Stating a target is the fastest way to make a report unusable, because the appraiser must disclose it.

How much you spent. Cost and value are different things. A six-figure pool in a neighbourhood where pools return half their cost returns half its cost. Renovations return somewhere between most and very little of their cost depending on what they are and where.

Cleanliness, staging, furniture. Condition matters; presentation does not. Do clean up enough that the condition can be seen accurately — that is a real reason, and it is the only one.

How long you have lived there.

What you can do

You can be present. You can point out improvements the appraiser might miss — a new roof, a re-piped house, an updated electrical panel, a permitted addition — and you can hand over documents: permits, surveys, recent inspection reports, a list of improvements with dates and costs, or an HOA resale package.

Appraisers routinely consider factual information from owners. What you cannot do is suggest a number, and a good appraiser will politely refuse to discuss one.

When the number comes in low

On a purchase, a low appraisal creates a financing gap: the lender lends against the appraised value, not the contract price. The parties then renegotiate, the buyer covers the difference, or the contract fails.

There is a formal route, usually called a reconsideration of value, in which the borrower or agent submits additional comparable sales for the appraiser to consider. It works when there is genuinely better evidence — a closed sale the appraiser missed, a factual error about the property. It does not work as an appeal against the conclusion. Since 2024, lenders selling to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been required to have a published process for borrowers to request one.

What it costs

For a standard single-family home in South Florida, most residential appraisals fall in the low hundreds of dollars. Complex assignments cost more, and they should: acreage, waterfront, unusual construction, multi-family, retrospective dates and litigation work all take substantially more time.

Beware of a quote that does not ask what the assignment is for. The purpose determines the scope, and the scope determines the price.

The kinds you might need

Refinance — lender-ordered, or private for your own decision
Estate and date of death — retrospective, for probate and basis
Divorce — independent, often engaged jointly
Tax assessment appeal — as of 1 January, for the VAB
Private or family sale — documents the gift component deliberately
Relocation — anticipated sales price, on the ERC form
PMI removal — read this one before you order anything