Northern Virginia housing prices may be rising, but appraised values often lag.
Whether you’re selling a home or buying a home, this can be a problem. It’s not uncommon for a home to sell quickly, sell with multiple competing offers and net a sales price ABOVE list price – only for things to come to a halt because the appraisal comes in low.
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Changes in the Northern Virginia Regional Contract that took effect January 1 could be in your favor though. (You can read about other BIG changes in the contracthere.)
One strategy that’s used to battle a low appraisal is to find additional comps the appraiser can use. Oftentimes – that means finding homes that may be under contract, but not yet settled. These homes are likely to have higher sales prices than comps that closed months ago – especially as we head into the hot spring market.
Find out what's happening in Fairfax Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
In the past, Realtors were reluctant to release information to appraisers about sales prices until the home had actually settled. But new language in the Northern VA sales contract means this process may become much more common. January 1 changes added a new paragraph called “Disclosure of Sales Price to Appraiser”. The contract now gives authority to brokers to release the sales price of the contract to any appraiser who contacts them to obtain the information.
Although the contract has changed, changes in actual practice often happen slowlybecause many Realtors are part-time and/or sell very few homes. This means they are not always intimately familiar with the contract and the form changes that happen every six months. This is just another example of why it’s SO important for buyers and sellers to choose Realtors from among the top 10%. The more homes they sell, the better they are at protecting you and avoiding/solving problems such as low appraisals.
(Read more about what happens when your appraisal comes in low.)
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