What is an Appraisal?
An appraisal is an objective supported opinion of value of an adequately described piece of property made by an appraiser who has sufficient knowledge, training and experience to accurately estimate its value. In this detailed and time consuming report, appraisers use comparable sales together with information about the property being appraised, its neighborhood and community along with the local and national economy, to support the appraised value.

How is value established?
The value of a house is based upon recent sales of the similar neighboring homes in the market as well as rentals and listing data. Ideally, appraisers want to use sales of properties of the same size, age, room count, condition and with similar amenities and external influences. This rarely happens though, so adjustments have to be made, based on what people will pay extra for.
Examples: extra square footage, bedrooms, fireplace, upgrading, parking facilities, swimming pool, lot size, location and so on.

Houses appraise for more when
- Well maintained inside and out.
- Located in a good school district.
- Additions are done with the proper building permits.
- Additions conform with and fit well into the existing house.
- Properties throughout the neighbourhood are well maintained.
- Not over improved or the largest house on the block.
- Style of the house conforms with those in the neighbourhood.
- Zoning changes are not expected.

Remember 
Location, location, location.
You can change everything about a house except it's location.

What is poor location?
- Located on a feeder street.
- Under an airport flight path.
- Center of night life activities.
- In a rundown block or neighborhood.
- Next to a school or school yard playground.
- Next to apartments or commercial property.
- In close proximity to a freeway, expressway or railroad.
- Next to a gas station, near a municipal garbage or toxic waste dump.

Work with an Agent
An advantage of working with a real estate agent is that they can provide you with sales information of similar properties to better guide you on how much to offer. Your agent can provide recent sales 'comps' for similar homes in the neighborhood.
Finding the list prices is also important. Comparing the list prices with the sale prices tells you exactly what percentage of the list price sellers are getting.