In a nutshell the appraisal of a home determines the approval of the buyer’s loan amount. The buyer’s mortgage lender uses the appraisal to determine if the house is worth the amount of money that the buyer wants to borrow to buy it.
If you’re hearing a buzz about appraisers dragging their feet it’s not a tall tale, but they also aren’t to blame.
The average process goes something like this:
- Scheduling an inspection: Your lender will first order an appraisal from a third-party licensed professional. It takes up to 48 hours for an appraiser to schedule a home walkthrough.
- Appraisal walkthrough: The appraiser will come to your home and do a home walkthrough. The home walkthrough takes anywhere from 20 minutes to 3 hours, depending on the home’s size and condition.
- Reviewing comparable homes: The appraiser will then review comparable homes, which takes 15 to 20 minutes. This step is fast if the appraiser uses software to quickly identify comparable homes.
- Receiving appraisal report: Compiling the information into a report takes 2 to 10 days and is highly dependent on how many other homes the appraiser is evaluating. The appraisal report for a typical single-family home is around 10 pages.
*Via Orchard.com
A typical home appraisal in Charleston, S.C. will take 2-3 weeks from appraisal to report in hand. However, due to low interest rates and the splurge in mortgage applications there is a massive backlog. This, in conjunction with the small pool of licensed appraisers, is making this part of the home buying and selling market move at a turtle’s speed.
For example “One source said an appraisal originally quoted at 10 days finally made its way back into their office nearly 27 days later. A lender in a particularly hot market in Colorado said several AMCs couldn’t guarantee they would be able to get an appraiser out to a property in less than four weeks.” – Houseingwire.com
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While we are starting to see the market as a whole normalize Charleston’s demand is still at a premium and I don’t see that changing too soon. Moral of the story? Allow time for delays, backlogs and speed bumps. Allow me to be your advocate. That’s my job! Looking to buy or sell your home in the Lowcountry? I would love to help you navigate the ever changing waters.
