Here is a standard Fannie Mae form. You can identify the things within your control - see the maintenance items, for example. https://www.fanniemae.com/content/guide_form/1004.pdf

If you want specific suggestions about your house and yard maintenance, just ask in a new post.

No to anew post just add a comment here .Only non removeale items will make any difference in appraisal FYI.

Why only non-removable items count to appraisal?

I thought, good furniture and well cleaned and decorated house will appraise more. Is it not?

Appraisal is for the house... not things that can be removed... for selling... nice decor will help..

Ok so obviously you don’t know how the process works. They don’t care 1 tiny bit about any of your items. Zero.

What did you update on the home since you bought it? Did you put on a new roof, update the kitchen, install new windows? What have you done to improve the actual house to make it worth more?

I don't have much experience with appraisals, but it's the house they're looking at, not the contents. Fix any maintenance issues, deep clean, maybe paint, but they're not valuing your furnitue or art.

Is this for a bank appraisal or for a real estate listing?

There is no doubt a lovely interior does help sell a house. A bank appraisal is very, very focused only on condition of the house and its location. You could have Roche Bobois furniture and the perfect throw pillows. The bank could care less.

BTW, your house is adorable. But, take into consideration, not everyone can do the front steps.

Your appraisal will largely be controlled by the comps in your area. That is the sales value of homes similar in size and style to yours.

If you live in a community that has 50 houses that look like yours but you are the only one with a new kitchen and roof, it's likely the value of your home will be dictated by the sales price of the others.

Remove the CLF; it is the #1 item that lowers appraisal values! If those are bars on the door, they should go as well.

There really isn't much you can do to change the appraisal. The appraiser is going to find 3 recent comparable sales in your area. He/she will adjust the value based on differences in square footage, does one have a pool, a basement, a garage, lot size etc. These are not things you control. The only thing you control is the condition of the home. The appraiser does adjust the value based on condition. If one home is in excellent condition and the next is in fair condition it will alter the appraisal, but not as much as people think. Cross your fingers that the comps don't include someone who sold low.

I had a bank appraisal done this week. The appraiser took pictures of the house and the neighborhood, and in the narrative noted that the house looked to be in above average condition. He included five comps from nearby, but never actually set foot in the house.

Suzanne Central Pa 6a - that is not uncommon. When I worked for an eminent domain attorney most of the appraisals by the state were done without even a drive by - they used aerial photos.

We’ve had our home appraised several times over the years and we’ve had the same appraiser each time. (She actually appraised it before we were ever owners of it, so she is well aware of the things that have been done to it over the years) We actually do a lot of major DIY projects, and the last couple of times she has come to our house excited and asks “show me what you guys have done now!” LOL! Some major things we’ve done that’ve raised the value include gut job remodels of several bathrooms and our kitchen, laundry room (added new cabinetry). Minor things that we’ve done that she has made note of include replacing our back door and glass walk out basement door, converting all can lights to LED lights, replacing the formerly corroded bathroom fixtures, new door knobs and hinges, and ceiling fans. Other house upgrades we have recently done that we will tell her about next time we decide to go through a refinancing process include adding whole house water filter (we already had a salt softener), replaced hot water heaters with a tankless water heater, replaced AC unit, brand new retaining wall and driveway with a new set of stairs that wasn’t there before, and slate tile covering front porch and front walkway. She has also always made note of landscaping improvements we’ve made such as new pathways and plantings and landscape lighting. We will also mention windows we’ve recently started replacing, but I’m not sure that will add value or not because it’s something that is expected to be in well maintained condition and we didn’t upgrade from dual panel to triple paned or anything like that, just maintained what we already had. So yeah, we’ve done a LOT of work on this house over the last 7.5 years... only MAJOR projects left to do are to gut the master bathroom, minor upgrades to one more bathroom that hasn’t been touched much yet, recarpet the upstairs and decide what to do for our three interior staircases (either recarpet or change to wood treads), finish new flooring in part of the basement (we did put new carpet in another area of basement which she noted) and replace the deck out in the backyard. Then it’ll be time to move, LOL!

It might be valuable to search for your home on Zillow and look at the Zestimate and then note on Zillow any improvements to the structure.

I have moved a lot and always do my best to encourage a high apprasial by making the appraisers job easier by gathering relevant information, organizing it and making it available to them. It has worked well as several times we listed over what agents suggested and sold and appraised at the higher price. The houses had above average components and features but an appraiser would not always know that. Besides getting the house super clean and staged for showing, I always made a sheet listing upgrades, features and improvements. This was helpful to buyers but also to the appraiser. Sometimes I streamlined the list for the appraiser.

It's also useful to read up on how apprasials are done and look at sample forms.

I did my own search for comps using solds on realtor .com and zillow, checking tax records and google earth and driving by. I also went to open houses prior to putting my home on the market which allowed me to compare similar/ higher priced new and resale homes with mine. Although your realtor cannot be at the appraisal, they can print out info and color photos of the comps. I sorted through similar and higher priced sales noting the features then picked 4 that would reflect well on my property. I had these available to the appraiser and chatted with him or her about my home. This research was time consuming but well worth it as they did use many of those comps and the houses appraised well. I have been lucky to have appraisers who are fairly local and know the area well and who do not try to coast by on just a math formula.

Our last sale involved a home that sold (to the first one who looked) for substantially over the prices of rest of the neighborhood. But it was better constructed, had a prime lot and did not look dated. When we bought it 3 years before, we were the first to look at it and paid more than other houses sold that year in the development. Sometimes the old adage "buy the cheapest house in the best neighborhood" is not the only way to go.

My advice is to do some research and provide the appraiser with useful (but not too much) printed material and to be there for the apprasial and point out improvements and features in a friendly (but not too lengthy) way.

It's worked for me in 3 states and 6 homes!

There's no problem here in CA with the realtor or homeowner being at the appraisal. I've done it many times. Even major remodels with high end finishes do no affect an appraisal much here unless you are adding rooms or square feet. Its all about the comps, condition, number of rooms and sq ft. For a purchase bank loan, they almost always just appraise it for exactly the purchase price. Its slightly different with a refinance to pull cash out.

Make sure your appraiser actually is familiar with your area. We had our house appraised by some idiot who was unfamiliar with our town, used a comp property that was 75k less than our house was worth. Our lender said the mortgage company most likely would go with the first appraisal despite our objections and not to get another appraisal. We finally went with a different mortgage company whose appraisal was 100k higher than the first. Some of my realtor friends knew of this appraiser and his slipshod practices. Lesson learned.

I have moved and refinanced and keep a running spreadsheet of all improvements. I had list to appraiser if at all possible. I also put comparables together to “help” him/her do their job. They usually want 3. You can select ones that have sold in last six months or less they can use. Of course, I pick ones most favorable to us. If you have a plan of the dimensions of your home, give them that too especially if you have added on or finished areas in last couple years. Make sure you have no obvious repairs that need to be done. The easier you make their job the better you will be. Also, a certified survey plat plan helps too. Definitely remove that cyclone fence at least back to where a buyer could envision a wood gate. If funds allow, put in pretty arbor and wood fence over to line where fencing continues to back yard. Let me find photo. Make curb appeal say, we have loved this home and taken good care of it. It does make a difference.

If you don’t have budget for white picket fence just remove that existing fence back to about 6’ behind front edge of house.