Why do I need a Home Evaluation?

Unless you're an investor, a house is a place of refuge, a tiny part of the world that is your domain where you and your family have sanctuary. The value of your asset is less important to you. You have a relative sense of its worth because of listings and sales you see in the neighbourhood but beyond that it's irrelevant. 

For the rest of you, you may be considering making a move in the next five years and require a starting point in terms of evaluating your asset. You need to know what your house is worth so that you can make plans for where or what you'd like to move to next. That's where we come in. 

What's the difference between an Appraisal and a Home Evaluation?

An Appraisal is conducted by an Appraisal Institute of Canada (AIC) member. It may be a requirement from your lender for obtaining financing. Banks etc want to know that they are lending money on an asset that has appropriate value based on the loan to value ratio. You may also want an appraisal to ensure your home is adequately Insured.  Depending on the scope of the appraisal, an Appraiser may use up to three approaches to value, 1. Direct Comparison Approach - as with realtors, they compare with recent solds, 2. Cost Approach - costs of replacing the home minus accrued depreciation, 3. Income Approach - for investment properties.

The cost of a basic appraisal is in the $400-$800 range but could run into the thousands if it's more complex. 

A Home Evaluation or Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) is completed by your Real Estate Realtor using comparable homes that are presently for sale or have recently sold in your area to estimate current value, usually for the purpose of determining list price and sale price. They will also include a price variance based on seasonality, location, quality and age. Often, the details of a home evaluation can be used for supporting evidence when challenging your assessed property taxes. 

The cost of a Home Evaluation is anywhere from $0.00 - $150. 

What does Team Welsh offer?

Call us and let's chat. We'd like to know what you are planning so that we may advise you more specific to your goals. We visit your home, make notes & take photos (for our own references only) and get back to you within 48 hours with a well researched evaluation complete with copies of the comparable listings we used.

In most cases our Home Evaluations are complimentary.