An appraiser plays a powerful role in purchasing or selling a property. While he’s not the more frontline in the selling game, he determines whether a property is worth buying for the price, or vice versa, a competitive price to sell. He might not be felt on where the real action is, but he has his own important role to do.

A realtor, on the other hand, do business by helping you market your property. Since he does marketing, he’s likely one of the treasured point people to know the real history of a property up for sale. All the dirty secrets are known by the realtor.

The opinion of an appraiser or a realtor may be important for both the buyer and the seller. It's great if you got time to ask important questions to him. If you’re lucky enough, he might provide you very useful information. But not all your questions might be entertained. This article will give you hints on some things your real estate appraisers or realtors might not tell you.

Appraisers Aren’t Working for You

You’re applying for a loan, and you notice that the bank charges you an amount for an appraisal fee. So you think you’re paying for the service they will give you, but the answer is no.

The appraiser is not working for you. They work for the bank. Their customer is the bank, not you. The bank ensures that the property matched the loan amount they will give you, that’s why the services of an appraiser are rendered.

“An Open House is for me, not you”

While your realtor might suggest doing an open house to target the best buyer for your property, it's not actually 100% that you will benefit from this.

According to a National Association of Realtors, in reality, their success rate in finding you a perfect buyer in an open house is only 2 to 4 percent. Most of the benefits are actually for them to get connections and prospective clients to other properties they’re selling.

This website suggests that having an open house gives your realtor an opportunity to build a database of clients. In open houses, both prospective buyers and sellers might walk in. So it gives your realtor both an opportunity to get clients who wanted to buy or sell a property.

Check on it, they will not waste their whole weekend standing or sit on your property while waiting for inquiries if they will not benefit from it. Open houses are a networking party for them.

Appraisers Don’t Value Your Home Improvement Projects

Home improvements are not always considered when the appraisers value the property. They based their valuation on the land value, the materials used in the foundation and in the finishing.

For the appraisers, the amount you spent to remodel a part of your home, like your kitchen, might or might not increase the value of your home. But that’s not always the case.

Appraisers Don’t Consider the Area

When we are talking only about a vacant lot, the prevailing conservative market value in the area would matter. Appraisers will value your land based on where is it located, like if on a commercial or residential area.

But if the appraisers are to value the house, the area won’t matter. How they will value the materials used to construct your house won’t change if you’re living in a posh neighborhood or an average residential area.

A two-story house built using the same materials, one in a posh subdivision, and one in a rural area, will most likely still be on the same valuation.

“You can sell this house yourself”

Of course, realtors are doing business for their business, and that’s their commission. If you’re selling a property, your realtor will add about 5% - 10% from your nominated selling price as their commission. This will sometimes get in the way from a prospective buyer, as this 5% unknowingly charged to them would matter.

If your property is located in a prime or acceptable area, and you valued it just right, you need not get a realtor to market your property for you. You can just hire an independent appraiser to assist you in valuing your property at a competitive rate. The expense you’ll get is definitely lower than giving a commission to a realtor.

Hope this article helped you in a way to see how an appraiser or realtor works, and to be knowledgeable about the things they might or might not tell you.