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Mortgage Tips - Getting Your House Appraised
Often the mortgage process includes having an appraisal done on your home, or the home you want to purchase. While fees for appraisers vary, and you need to ask them how much they will charge, it is not uncommon right now for a single detached bungalow in Calgary to be appraised for $ 200 - 225.00 ( and then add GST to that). Some lenderswill pay the costs of an appraisal, while others will expect you to foot that bill.
Appraisers are different from the assessors the City of Calgary uses for their tax assessment purposes. City assessors will only see the outside of the home, whereas, appraisers will inspect the inside as well. The city assessment is posted on their taxation website for anyone to see. You can check yours by looking up your address at www1.gov.calgary.ab.ca/fairshare.
Do not be dismayed if you find your property value on the City’s website to be lower than you expected. Most properties are undervalued there, but it is common knowledge within the real estate and mortgage industries, so lenders take that into consideration. While their policies will vary, at least one lender takes the city assessment and automatically adds 10% to it for a more realistic value.
Many lenders want appraisal reports that fit their own reporting criteria. For this reason, these lenders will only accept appraisals done by those on their ‘approved’ list. Do not think you can get an appraisal done by the appraiser of your choice, and then go shopping for the best mortgage deal. You may end up having to pay for a second appraisal, depending on the lender you actually take the mortgage out with.
Finally, appraisals are not an exact science. The appraiser will look at your home and also, comparable homes in your area, to decide on its value. Rather than coming out with an exact dollar value, they are likely to find a range your house falls within. It may be a discretionary decision, or even at times, a political decision as to what figure in that range the appraiser settles on. The older a home is, the greater that range of possibilities might be.
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