If you’re going to make real-estate investments in Australia, it’s important to understand the difference between an appraisal, and a property valuation.

Property Valuer - An Estimated Guess

When you're looking to buy a new property or trying to sell your current property, you must get a property appraisal. An appraisal is an estimation of your property price given by a property valuer or an appraiser. There have been many guidelines and restrictions implemented to avoid any kind of discriminating behavior against people and to avoid anyone from abusing the system to increase their properties value. It's very important for a property appraiser to have no bias and have a completely neutral standpoint. Property valuers have many years of experience and training to be able to correctly determine your sites correct value.

Property Valuation - Systematic Process

A regular formal property valuation differs from an appraisal in that it determines the actual value of a property from an independent and impartial point of view. An appraisal is for the USA and a property valuer is for Australia. It’s a complex process, and in most Australian states a formal valuation can only be provided by a qualified valuer who has undertaken the necessary education and training. This makes sure that security of all of the factors relevant to that property are correctly considered unbiased. A written legal property report will be created and a fee will be charged once you the valuer has completed the proccess.

Registration

The requirements for licensing and registering your property for valuers will difer depending on which Australian locations you're doing it in. NSW and Queensland require you to obtain a full registration while locations such as Western Australia require you to obtain licensing.

In locations like NSW, the DOFT is where you regiter for a property valuer.

In locations such as Queensland, a valuer is pre-registered under the valuers registration act of 1992 and there is a specific group of people who will administer the act.

There are certain locations that do not require any kind of licensing to perform as a property valuer but there are special requirements in order for you to meet the necessary needs. The requirements include experience and special qualifications. Some of the locations that do not require any kind of licensing include Tasmania and the South Australia region.

The last type of valuer is one who does not have any requirements to perform as a property valuer other than the basic code of conducts, ethics and rules of being a property valuer. The most popular location where this is the case is Victoria.
 

Pricing

The pricing of a property valuation in Australia will always vary so it's crucial to understand the marketplace that you're in before you decide to chose a valuer to do the property valuation.

A property valuation can cost anywhere from $250 to roughly $1000. Once you contact the property valuer, he will guide you to understand the pricing depending on how far he has to travel to get to the location. Some locations will be right outside his office and other locations could be a 2 hour drive and that's part of what determines the cost.

There are certain requirements for the property valuer that must be taken care of when they go out to the property. For every additional detail for the report, you will be paying an extra amount for.

Free Property Valuations

Some mortgage brokers will include some kind of financing into your mortgage for the property valuation. There are also some cases where they will just cover the cost of the evaluation of the property for their borrower. Any time you're doing a property valuation for a mortgage then you should content your lender to see if they will cover the cost of the appraisal/property valuation.

When Do You Need a Valuation?

There are only certain situations where you will need a valuation. These will include any time you're looking to establish the value of the property to buy, sell or split ownership over a property. Since you will have both a buyer and a seller for the property, it's necessary for you to have a mutual ground for the property value that is completely unbiased by the property valuer.

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Factors Affecting a Valuation
There are certain aspects to a home that will affect the property price. Here are a few of those.

– Location and surrounding area
– The quality of the buildings base structure
– How well the building looks
– How accessible it is
– Additional features to the house

How to Improve your housing value

The main thing that you can do to get a higher propery value is improve your cleanliness in your yard and the outside of your house. Most property valuers don't go in the house and when they do it's just briefly. They will be looking at the outside structure and overall upkeep on the home.