Appraisals have become more and more important if you are looking to invest your money in the McLean real estate market. You and the appraisers are going to have to answer many questions in order to come up with an accurate answer. How is the health of the market? Where is the real estate heading? Is the marker worthy of your investment?



The crucial part of the entire process for the home buyer and the appraiser is to look at what is being bought and sold as part of the McLean real estate market and other Northern Virginia real estate market. Because we are living in an atmosphere of more foreclosures and a much tighter market, everyone in the process is taking a closer look at appraisals. How do we now find out what are homes are really worth, whether they are being appraised for purchase, a refinance or a home equity loan.

In a recent article in The Washington Post, the Northern Virginia market, including the Vienna real estate market, was reported on and the result was a place where prices are moving up and down greatly. If you want to be a part of it, you need to understand that there is a need for correct appraisals which will protect everyone in the process from getting into poor deals.

If you deal with real estate appraisers, they must be reliable in their assessment of your potential home or the home you are selling. They can't miss what else is going on in the market as a whole or in your neighborhood when they care coming up with a value of your property, especially not in the current times, when housing is in such a state of flux.

If you work with an appraiser in Northern Virginia, and especially in the Vienna real estate market, they should be able to check out what else is selling, what prices are being cut and what homes are being foreclosed on around your immediate area. If there are more foreclosures, than the home you're selling or buying will be touched. If other owners are desperate to sell, then your potential sale will be hurt as well.

Appraisers are just part of the home loan transaction, though they are vital to it because the value they come up with will determine the action of banks, loan underwriters, real estate agents and home buyers. In the boom time of housing a few years ago, appraisals weren't looked at with as much scrutiny. The results were inflated values of home and were actually a boost to buyers and sellers, because they allowed some owners in need of more cash for other debts to tab into large amounts of equity.

"There is higher scrutiny because the market is going down," James Loizou, co-owner of Suburban Appraisers & Consultants in Fairfax, Virginia told the Washington Post.

If you are a potential buyer and you want to keep yourself safe, then you need to work with your lender to ensure that you are getting an accurate value. The loan underwriter is the company which is hiring and paying the appraiser, so they have as much state in the appraiser doing as good a job as you do. You want the appraiser to get out of the business of drive-by valuing.

Some lenders may start your home loan with a automated valuation before they determine a more detailed appraisal as part of the approval of your loan. Be sure to check with your underwriter to see if that is how their loan system works.

There is some government oversight which could help you. Last week, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine signed a law which regulates mortgage settlement statements. They must let you know about any fees charged in relation to automated valuation or anything done by a non-licensed appraiser. You can use this law as protection to help make sure you are getting a fair deal in the Virginia real estate market in McLean and Vienna.