Hello there, In this post on Solsarin we’re mentioning “what is a drive by appraisal for a home”
When you’re buying or refinancing a home, your lender will likely order a home appraisal to make sure that the property is worth the amount of the loan. Should you default, your lender can minimize their losses by selling the home.
Largely consisting of an exterior inspection of a building by a licensed real estate appraiser, a drive-by appraisal allows borrowers to obtain an estimated value quickly and cost-effectively for their apartment, condo, townhouse, or single- or multi-family home.
One of the 12 steps to buying or refinancing a property is the home appraisal, which lenders require to make sure that property is worth at least as much as the amount they’re lending you. A drive-by appraisal, or summary appraisal, occurs when a home appraiser only looks at the outside of your home and real estate records to appraise the value of your property.
A drive-by or external-only appraisal is a form of home appraisal that is conducted without a licensed professional needing to enter your home. Rather, a licensed appraiser will examine the home from the outside, usually from a public roadway, to estimate the home’s value based on the property’s exterior condition and the state of the surrounding area.
Most mortgage providers require that a full appraisal of both a home’s interior and exterior be conducted before they will approve a mortgage loan. However, a bank or mortgage lender may give approval for a drive-by appraisal in select instances, e.g. home refinances, especially in light of recent pandemic-related concerns.
To the casual observer, a drive-by appraisal looks like an individual walking around and taking pictures of a home while scribbling down notes as they go, but behind the scenes, there is actually much more taking place during this assessment.
Before they visit your home, the appraiser will research sales of homes that are like yours in terms of style and location. They do this by looking at recent comparable sales (comps) within the industry.
This will give the appraiser a general idea of the selling cost of homes like yours. In times of robust sales, this is a relatively straightforward process, but when sales are few and far between, or if you live in a rural area with very few like properties, this may be a more complex task.
Of course, research alone cannot replace looking around the neighborhood and checking out the home itself.
The appraiser will also take a drive through the neighborhood to get a sense of whether its homes are increasing or declining in value. They’ll consider the overall look of the area and how well the neighbors maintain their property.
The appraiser will then drive by to observe the exterior of your home. They will walk around the exterior to take pictures, measurements, and notes on anything they observe, jotting down any questions they have.
After taking photos of the outside of your home, and getting a sense of comparable properties, the appraiser will review their notes, research, and pictures to estimate the home’s appraised value.
Because these changes to the traditionally ordered full appraisals have come about because of the pandemic and were instituted largely overnight, many lenders are requiring hybrid appraisals, which involve some combination of the tools used by appraisers to assess a home’s value.
Drive-by appraisals are popular with many home buyers or sellers due to their lower cost compared to traditional appraisals. As a general rule though, reasons why a drive-by appraisal may occur include:
As stated above, there are both benefits and drawbacks associated with drive-by appraisals. When determining whether to proceed with one, you’ll want to consider the following:
Because appraisers are free to visit your home at their convenience, and because the interior portion of the appraisal is deemed unnecessary, a drive-by appraisal costs less.
You can’t help but feel anxious when preparing for something like a home appraisal, and you’ll feel twice as anxious if you are in the middle of renovations, or have kids or pets. It can be a home improvement or home cleaning hassle to get everything looking its best for appraisal day. Room half-painted? A drive-by appraisal will not see those flaws.
If you’re refinancing and worried about a low appraisal, a drive-by appraisal might not work in your favor, as it may fail to take into account any interior renovations that could raise the value of your home. From a lender’s perspective, an appraiser may miss structural damages or other flaws that are only visible from inside the house, rendering the valuation inaccurate.
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Speaking of inaccuracies, there is always the risk that the online research your appraiser accesses is simply wrong.
It can be very difficult to know how big a home is on the inside just by looking at the outside. If your home was designed to look modest but is quite spacious, and you’re worried about a low appraisal, you may want to consider asking for a full appraisal.
Those considering a drive-by appraisal may have a number of frequently asked questions (FAQs) that spring to mind. Here are the answers to some of the more common ones:
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is currently accepting drive-by appraisals for FHA loans due to COVID-19 regulations.
Drive-by appraisals are now common practice when refinancing a mortgage, as a home with a lot of equity built up within it poses a lower risk to lenders.
A full appraisal can commonly cost $300 – $500. According to Home Advisor, drive-by appraisals cost between $100 and $150.
The core benefit of a drive-by appraisal is that an appraiser doesn’t need to come inside your home to conduct one. It’s cheaper and less stressful for homeowners, but it also omits some amenities and interior features that could possibly increase the home’s value.
A drive-by appraisal also referred to as a summary appraisal, is an alternative form of home appraisal. Instead of inspecting both the interior and exterior, the appraiser only needs to examine the exterior of the property and any available real estate records to determine the home’s value.
Because they aren’t entering the home, the appraiser will rely more heavily on other data points to help them accurately determine the home’s market value. This may include doing additional research and going through public records to learn as much as possible about the home.
A drive-by appraisal involves the appraiser physically visiting the home in question and taking detailed notes and photographs of the condition and features of the exterior of the property. They’ll also look for homes in the neighborhood that are similar to the property to use as comparable sales (also known as comps) and do a drive-by inspection of them as well.
They’ll also look for the characteristics of the neighborhood, such as its environmental conditions, including those that could adversely affect property values.
The exterior inspection of a home is only a small part of a drive-by appraisal. Appraisers must also do sufficient research to learn enough about the home to form an opinion of its value.
Appraisers may use things like MLS listings, tax records, public records or information provided by the homeowner to learn as much as possible about the features and condition of the interior of the home.
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