Exterior / Driveby Appraisals
The exterior, or drive-by, appraisal report is similar to the complete appraisal as we come out to your home, but we do not need complete access to your home to complete the appraisal. We only need access enough to be able to view the front of your property. For most homes this just means we look at and take photos of the front of your house from the street. If you live in a gated community we would need the code or to be let into the community to accomplish this inspection. If your home is not visible from the street (tucked behing trees off the road) then we'll need do come down your driveway to complete the inspection.
All of our appraisal assigments start off with us researching the background of your home. We review prior real estate listings, county tax records and perform a homeowner interview. During the homeowner interview we hope to hear from you what's special about your property, have you made any updates to home or are any repairs needed, do you have a pool, solar panels, a great view or any unique attributes. We also research the current market conditions in your neighborhood and look for a list of comparable properties that could be used to generate the final report.
After the intial research is completed we'll make the site visit. For an external appraisal we do not need you to be present - we just need access to view the front of your property. We'll discuss this during the homeowner interview. The exterior, or drive-by, appraisal report includes a site visit with a curbside viewing of your home and we'll:
- Take photos of your street and home
- Review the exterior condition of your home as visible from the street - roof, siding, gutters, paint, walkways, etc
- Review your lot - as visible from the street - landscaping, outdoor living spaces, pools, solar panels, additional buildings (sheds, etc)
- Look at overall exterior quality and condition and for any safety concerns as can be seen from the street
- Drive around your neighborhood and look for positive and negative influences (waterways, grasslands, parks, power lines, busy roads
- Drive to all comparables and review current condition and take an exterior photo of each
After the inspection we take all of the information collected during pre-inspection research and the inspection and write up the appraisal report. We make our final selection of comparables to use based on how similar they are to your property, making adjustments for any significant differences. Once the report has been created we make a final determination of value, review the report and run it through third party validation tools. We complete the assignment by deliverying the report to you making sure we are available to answer any questions you may have regarding the report.
If you're ready to move forward with your appraisal request, we're here to assist you!