generally will require the borrower to buy mortgage insurance. Appraisers have specific standards that they are required to adhere to in respect to comparable properties or "comps" that they use to compare to your home to value it. They use these comps and compare them to your house, adding and subtracting value for square footage and amenities. This is supposed to be objective, however an appraisal is also somewhat subjective. You can have 3 appraisers come out to value the same property and have 3 different values. The most important part of the appraisal is choosing the best comps. Part of your Realtor's job is to provide you with a market analysis to show you what homes in the area have sold for recently, and where the market is headed (buyer's market, seller's market, balanced, days on market, etc.), to help you decide where to position your house on the market. It's also your Realtor's job to choose the best recent comparable property sales and provide them to the appraiser when that time comes. The appraiser is not required to use them, but many times they will. Your Realtor should also be meeting the appraiser at the house with the comps, a list of upgrades, ages of systems, and point out any unusual features that may add value. The appraiser may also ask your Realtor questions about what they are seeing in that particular local market. Many Realtors do not do this, but it can be helpful to the appraiser. Sometimes an appraisal will come in that is way off market value. We had a case in 2010 where we had 6 offers from $245,000-$265,50 for an estate sale in Glen Burnie that was priced at $249,000. The appraisal came in at $209,000. The appraiser chose comps from a bank owned home that was in much worse condition, a home a mile away but in Baltimore City, which has totally different schools than Anne Arundel County, and a short sale, which is considered a distressed sale. A short sale is not in the same category as an estate sale because
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