Real Estate Appraisals: Fact or Fiction?

A common question is "how much is my property worth?". Understand the answer to this question can vary greatly. Many times you will get a "shoot from the hip" type answer that is simply inaccurate. While an experienced sales person many times can give you a rough estimate based on recent experiences, this advice needs to be qualified if it is supporting a major decision.

The complexity and detail behind formal appraisals will boggle the mind of most. Appraisal professionals have a multitude of methods and mathematics to produce estimates of value from a more scientific perspective. The services of an appraiser are rarely (if ever) free, so a well trained salesperson in this area can prove helpful for many purposes.

Specialty courses are available to diligent salespeople teaching more in depth concepts of appraisal. The current licensing training also includes a good amount of background on the process and cautions practitioners to guard clients against poorly researched value estimates.