Understanding the Appraisal Process

Getting a house can be the most significant transaction most may ever consider. Whether it's where you raise your family, a seasonal vacation property or a rental fixer upper, the purchase of real property is a detailed transaction that requires multiple parties to make it all happen.


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You're likely to be familiar with the parties having a role in the transaction. The real estate agent is the most known face in the exchange. Then, the lender provides the money required to bankroll the deal. The title company ensures that all requirements of the exchange are completed and that the title is clear to transfer to the buyer from the seller.

So what party is responsible for making sure the property is consistent with the amount being paid? In comes the appraiser. We provide an unbiased opinion of what a buyer could expect to pay - or a seller receive - for a parcel of real estate, where both buyer and seller are informed parties. A professional North Carolina licensed appraiser from Campbell and Cress Appraisal Service will ensure you as an interested party are informed.

Inspecting the subject property

Our first responsibility at Campbell and Cress Appraisal Service is to inspect the property to ascertain its true status. We must actually view aspects of the property, such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the location, and so on, to ensure they indeed exist and are in the shape a typical person would expect them to be. The inspection often includes a sketch of the property, ensuring the square footage is proper and illustrating the layout of the property. Most importantly, the appraiser identifies any obvious features - or defects - that would have an impact on the value of the house.

Once the site has been inspected, an appraiser employs two or three approaches when determining the value of the property: a paired sales analysis, a replacement cost calculation, and an income approach when rental properties are prevalent.

Cost Approach

Here, the appraiser gathers information on local construction costs, labor rates and other elements to figure out how much it would cost to replace the property being appraised. This figure often sets the maximum on what a property would sell for. The cost approach is also the least used predictor of value.

Paired Sales Analysis

Appraisers get to know the neighborhoods in which they work. We innately understand the value of certain features to the residents of that area. Then, the appraiser researches recent transactions in close proximity to the subject and finds properties which are 'comparable' to the real estate at hand. By assigning a dollar value to certain items such as upgraded appliances, extra bathrooms, an additional living area, quality of construction, lot size, we add or subtract from each comparable's sales price so that they more accurately match the features of subject.

If, for example, the comparable has an extra half bath that the subject doesn't, the appraiser may deduct the value of that half bath from the sales price of the comparable home.
In the case where the subject has something such as an extra half bath that a comparable doesn't have, the appraiser might add the value of that bath to the comparable property.

When it comes to associating a value with features of homes in Statesville and Iredell, Campbell and Cress Appraisal Service is your local authority. The sales comparison approach to value is usually given the most weight when an appraisal is for a home sale.

Valuation Using the Income Approach

A third way of valuing approach to value is sometimes employed when a neighborhood has a reasonable number of rental properties. In this scenario, the amount of income the real estate produces is taken into consideration along with income produced by comparable properties to derive the current value.

Coming Up With the Final Value

Combining information from all approaches, the appraiser is then ready to state an estimated market value for the property at hand. Note: While this amount is probably the best indication of what a house would sell for in an open market, it probably will not be the final sales price. There are always mitigating factors such as seller motivation, urgency or 'bidding wars' that may adjust the final price up or down. Regardless, the appraised value is typically employed as a guideline for lenders who don't want to loan a buyer more money than they could get back in the event they had to put the property on the market again. Here's what it all boils down to: An appraiser from Campbell and Cress Appraisal Service will help you attain the most fair and balanced property value, so you can make the most informed real estate decisions.