Venturing into the appraisal field makes one think there’ll be a lot of math calculations to learn and a lot of writing. And while that’s true, there’s another side to the appraisal process, the dirty side.
After all the desktop preparations of gathering information about the subject property and neighborhood are done, the appraiser goes into the field. You’ll notice that appraisers dress more like service personnel than someone at a desk all day and there’s good reason:
- Spider webs,
- Rain and wind,
- Walking large parcels of land,
- Overgrown or overhanging trees with debris and insects,
- Getting into attics and crawlspaces.
An appraiser typically wears a sturdy shoe just in case there’s mud or a steep slope. Usually there’s a hat and wind breaker in the trunk because standing outside in the 100 degree heat of Campo can redden a face!
The inspection of a home isn’t just a few photos and a quick peak in some rooms. The inspection involves a full exterior evaluation of things other than the home:
- Survey the slope and usability of the land,
- Evaluate the immediate neighbors and the condition of their homes and land,
- Observe traffic, either on the street or overhead, and determine if it has a negative impact,
- Check if power lines or landscape are obscuring views or causing an eye sore.
Then sometimes an appraiser has to get under the home in the crawlspace or up in the attic. This is typically only for an FHA loan but it’s good to peak your head inside an exposed crawlspace if there is one.
So the next time an appraiser comes for the inspection and they’re dressed not like a person crunching numbers and analyzing data but more like a pest eradicator, it’s because that day they’re probably getting pretty familiar with the outside elements.