A Seller’s Solution for a Low Appraisal

Here’s a quick tip to help sellers avoid a low appraisal.

How can you avoid a low appraisal when selling your home? This is a common question in today’s market because home prices continue to rise, and we’ve seen properties selling for more than their appraised values. In fact, just this year, we had one property sell for $250,000 more than the appraised value and a townhouse sell for $50,000 over the appraised value.

Low appraisals often occur when there’s a high demand for properties. When an offer comes in, you need to look at the financing of all the offers. Look for the buyers who have extra cash they could use to cover the difference between the contract price and the appraised value. Be careful, though, because lenders won’t allow buyers to make up the difference if the buyer doesn’t have the extra cash.

If the buyer can do it, however, then they could be swayed to remove the appraisal contingency. That would eliminate a potential exit strategy for them and a reason to cancel the contract if the property doesn’t appraise.

If you have any questions or would like further tips for buying and selling in our market, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help.