To get an appraisal on your house, you either let your mortgage lender order one through an appraisal management company or, for private purposes like a divorce, estate, or tax appeal, hire a state-licensed appraiser yourself. Either path runs about $300 to $500 for a standard single-family home, involves a 30-to-60-minute on-site visit, and ends with a written report delivered one to two weeks later.
Decide Who Orders the Appraisal
If an appraisal is tied to a mortgage, you don’t pick the appraiser. Federal law prohibits lenders, real estate agents, and borrowers from influencing appraiser selection or the value conclusion.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1639e – Appraisal Independence Requirements To enforce that separation, most lenders use an Appraisal Management Company. The AMC maintains a panel of licensed appraisers, assigns the order, collects the finished report, and handles payment, acting as a buffer between the appraiser and anyone with a financial stake in the deal.2eCFR. 12 CFR Part 34 Subpart H – Appraisal Management Companies Your role is to schedule access to the home and pay the fee, usually upfront or through closing.
For a private appraisal, you hire the appraiser directly. The Appraisal Subcommittee’s National Registry lets you confirm an appraiser holds a valid state license and check for any disciplinary history.3ASC gov. National Registries Look for someone with local market experience, then sign an engagement letter that spells out the scope of the work, the delivery date, and the fee. The resulting report is yours to use for the divorce filing, probate return, property tax appeal, or whatever purpose you ordered it for.
One boundary worth knowing before you start: not every mortgage triggers a full appraisal. Fannie Mae’s “Value Acceptance” program waives the appraisal for some purchase loans on primary residences and second homes at loan-to-value ratios up to 90%, based on the automated underwriting system’s risk assessment.4Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae Announces Changes to Appraisal Alternatives Requirements You can’t request a waiver; the system either offers one or it doesn’t. If your lender tells you no appraisal is needed, that’s why.
What an Appraisal Costs
For a standard single-family home, plan on $300 to $500. The national average sits around $350 to $360, though the real cost depends on where you live and how complicated the property is. A three-bedroom house in a subdivision with plenty of recent comparable sales costs less than a rural property on acreage where the appraiser has to hunt for data.
Complex properties push the fee higher. Multi-unit buildings, large estates, acreage, or properties with unusual features like agricultural improvements or mixed-use zoning can run $600 to $1,000 or more. FHA and VA appraisals also run slightly higher than conventional ones because the appraiser is checking additional condition requirements. When the lender orders through an AMC, you don’t negotiate the price; the AMC sets it. When you hire privately, you can get quotes from several appraisers and compare.
Documents to Have Ready
Preparation doesn’t change what your home is worth, but it keeps the report moving and prevents errors that trigger corrections later. Pull these together before the appraiser arrives:
- Property deed, which provides the legal description, plat references, and parcel number.
- Recent property tax bill, which confirms the assessed value, tax ID, and lot dimensions on file with the county.
- Improvement records with dates, costs, and permit numbers for significant work like a roof replacement, kitchen remodel, HVAC upgrade, or solar install. Receipts and permits carry more weight than verbal descriptions.
- Survey or plat map, especially useful if the lot has an unusual shape, shared easements, or boundary disputes.
Many appraisers send a short questionnaire before the visit asking about the age of major systems, known defects, and easements. Fill it out using your records rather than guessing. When your answers match what the appraiser sees on-site and finds in public records, the report moves through quality review without friction.
One warning on unpermitted work. If a prior owner (or you) added a bedroom, converted a garage, or finished a basement without pulling the required building permits, the appraiser may not count that square footage in the home’s gross living area. Unpermitted additions create a gap between what you think your home is worth and what the report can support. If you have time, ask your local building department about retroactive permits before the appraisal.
What Happens During the Inspection
A traditional inspection takes about 30 minutes to an hour. The appraiser starts outside, measuring the exterior perimeter to calculate gross living area and confirming the footprint matches the tax assessor’s records. They note roof condition, siding, landscaping, and outbuildings like detached garages or sheds.
Inside, they walk every room and photograph the kitchen, bathrooms, and main living areas. They’re observing the quality of finishes, the condition of floors, walls, and ceilings, the layout, and whether major systems appear functional. Water stains, foundation cracks, and other visible issues go into the report as conditions that affect value.
This is not a home inspection. The appraiser won’t crawl into the attic, test outlets, or run the dishwasher. If something looks seriously wrong, they may require a specialist inspection before finalizing the report, but their job is to observe condition and marketability rather than produce a defect list.
Not every appraisal involves a full walkthrough. A hybrid appraisal sends a trained third party to collect interior and exterior data while the appraiser writes the report remotely; a desktop appraisal skips the physical visit entirely and relies on public records and MLS data.5Fannie Mae. Hybrid and Desktop Appraisal Forms Quick Reference You don’t choose which type you get. The lender’s underwriting system does.
How the Appraiser Calculates Value
Appraisers work under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, which gives them discretion over which valuation method to apply.6The Appraisal Foundation. USPAP For residential property, one method does almost all the work.
The sales comparison approach drives nearly every single-family home appraisal. The appraiser identifies three to six recently sold properties near yours that are similar in size, age, condition, and features, then adjusts each sale price up or down for differences. A three-car garage versus a two-car garage adds value; an original kitchen versus a renovated one subtracts it. The adjusted comparables bracket your home’s market value.
Two other approaches sometimes show up. The cost approach estimates what it would take to rebuild the home at today’s prices minus depreciation, and it matters most for new construction or unusual properties. The income approach converts rental income into a present value and applies mainly to investment properties. Standard owner-occupied residential reports rest almost entirely on the sales comparison method.
FHA and VA Add Condition Requirements
If the appraisal is being done for an FHA or VA loan, the appraiser also certifies that the home meets specific habitability standards.
FHA appraisals follow HUD’s requirement that the property be safe, sound, and secure.7HUD. FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 Heating, electrical, and plumbing must be functional, stairways need handrails, bathrooms need working fixtures with hot water, and the structure has to be serviceable for the life of the mortgage. Homes built before 1978 with chipping, cracking, or peeling paint fail the FHA appraisal because of lead-based paint rules, and the seller has to correct the condition before the loan can close.
VA appraisals go through a VA-assigned appraiser rather than the lender’s AMC. If the value comes in below the purchase price, the VA’s Tidewater process pauses the report and gives the lender two working days to submit additional comparables or supporting data.8Veterans Benefits Administration. Procedures for Improving Communication with Fee Appraisers in Regards to the Tidewater Process Every VA purchase contract also includes a mandatory escape clause protecting the veteran’s earnest money if the appraisal falls short of the contract price.9Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Home Loans. Escape Clause
Getting and Reviewing the Report
After the inspection, expect roughly one to two weeks while the appraiser researches comparables, applies adjustments, and writes the report. The finished document arrives as a PDF, going to the lender if a mortgage is involved or directly to you if you ordered privately.
When the appraisal is tied to a mortgage, federal law requires the lender to send you a copy. Under Regulation B, which implements the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, delivery must happen promptly on completion or at least three business days before closing, whichever is earlier.10Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR Part 1002 (Regulation B) – 1002.14 Rules on Providing Appraisals and Other Valuations You can waive that timing, but the waiver itself has to happen at least three business days before closing.11Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Factsheet – Delivery of Appraisals The point is giving you time to actually read it.
Check the report for factual errors first. Wrong bedroom or bathroom count, missing basement square footage, incorrect lot size, or a comparable sale that clearly doesn’t match your home. These errors are more common than people expect, and the value conclusion stands unless you formally challenge it.
If the Value Comes In Low
A low appraisal doesn’t have to end the deal. Federal regulators issued interagency guidance in 2024 confirming that lenders should maintain a reconsideration of value process letting borrowers submit information the appraiser may have missed.12Federal Register. Interagency Guidance on Reconsiderations of Value of Residential Real Estate Valuations You get one request per appraisal, submitted before the loan closes.
Valid grounds include factual errors, inadequate or inappropriate comparables (like a foreclosure used as a comp when arm’s-length sales were available), omitted information such as a recent renovation, and evidence of prohibited bias.13Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Mortgage Borrowers Can Challenge Inaccurate Appraisals Through the Reconsideration of Value Process Strong requests come with specifics: a sale the appraiser missed, a permit record proving an improvement, or MLS data showing a comp had a lower condition rating than reflected. Your request goes to the lender, who forwards it to the appraiser; the appraiser either revises the value or explains in writing why the original conclusion stands. There is no mandated turnaround, so ask your lender about their timeline.
If you’re buying and the contract includes an appraisal contingency, a low value gives you three choices: walk away with your earnest money, ask the seller to drop the price to the appraised value or meet somewhere in between, or cover the gap in cash as a larger down payment. In competitive markets some buyers include an appraisal gap clause committing to cover a set dollar amount over the appraised value, which can be combined with a contingency so the protection kicks back in if the gap exceeds the stated limit. Waiving the contingency entirely puts you on the hook for the full contract price regardless of what the appraiser concludes.