Should You Hire a Company
that Specializes in House Appraisals?

You're thinking about house appraisals, but don't know where to start. You want to know your home market value, but don't know how to go about getting this information.

Is it necessary to hire a company that specializes in evaluating residential real estate?

The answer is ...

It Depends

What's your reason for wanting to know?

Simple curiosity? Matrimonial separation or divorce? Re-financing? Or are you thinking about a major renovation project and want to know if it'll be worthwhile when considering the investment aspect of your property? Or are you thinking about putting your home for sale on the market? Home appraisals are performed for numerous reasons.

For all but one of the above reasons, it's probably a good idea to have a house appraisal performed by a specialist. A home appraisal report may be relied upon to a greater degree for legal, financing and investment purposes. You'll be charged a flat fee of a few hundred dollars for a typical home, or more for larger, more complex properties.

For Canadian real estate, a member of the Appraisal Institute of Canada (AIC), which grants the distinguished Accredited Appraiser Canadian Institute (AACI) and Canadian Residential Appraiser (CRA) designations, is who you should hire. Visit the AIC website to learn more about house appraisals.

An ideal resource for American home appraisals is The American Society of Appraisers (ASA). Visit their website for more information.

If you're thinking, however, about ...

Listing Your Home For Sale

... an experienced REALTOR® is capable of performing home market evaluation sufficient for this purpose. As a matter of fact, a real estate agent will use the same methodology as does an accredited appraiser. It's call a Comparative Market Analysis

And with the promise of a listing and possible sale, the REALTOR® will not likely charge you a fee.

So, to determine home market value, determine your reason and make your choice.

Return to Home Page