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Welcome to Ask an Agent. If you have any real estate questions you want answered, email us at [email protected] and we’ll feature your answer on an upcoming blog post.
Question: What is the difference between a home assessment and a home appraisal?
Answer: It’s very common to confuse these two terms, but understanding both will help make the home buying and selling process easier. You may notice within the buying and selling process that the values assigned by assessors and appraisers differ, even by thousands of dollars.
An assessment is the value placed on a property by the town or city’s assessor’s office for the purpose of determining the property taxes. Communities are assessed within a four to twelve-month period, after which the combined value of all properties is used to calculate what the tax rate will be.
Home appraisals are conducted by an appraiser to determine value. The appraiser will use recently sold prices of similar properties, making adjustments for differences among the properties surveyed. Appraisals are most commonly done when a property is being financed or refinanced. Appraisers help determine the “Fair Market Value” for a home.
Tags: appraisal, ask an agent, assessment, home appraisal, home assessment, Home Buying, Home Selling, tips and advice
Categories: Home Buying, Home Selling
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