house prep for home appraisal?

[calv]

going to refi. What/if anything have you done to prep your home? Should it be spotless? So many darn toys EVERYWHERE!!!

[katydid1971]

I had forgotten that the home appraisal guy was coming and he hit on a very bad day for our house. He went to every room and took pictures. I was so embarrassed but the house ended up appraisong for more than we had expected so the state of your house doesn't matter but you may not want you lender seeing the total mess that will be in the pictures like mine did :bag

[MaiseyDog]

We just got ours appraised for a refi. The guy came in and took a lot of measurements and took pictures. The pictures were part of the appraisal doccument, so although I tidied up, I wish I had done a much better job cleaning because anyone that looks at the appraisal can see my kids unmade bed and the pile of dirty clothes in the laundry room waiting to be washed. It wasn't bad, but certainly not something I wanted captured for all time.

[calv]

Thanks ladies. So do they open up closests too? My pantry & closets sure could use a cleaning! Just in the middle of getting rid of all summer clothing and bringing warmer stuff out for fall/winter.

[chozen]

no they did not open doors they mainly got measurements.

[ellies mom]

They don't really care about whether the house is clean or the closets are organized. They are really just making sure the house is what you claim it is and there aren't any big glaring issues such as no floor, huge hole in the wall, etc.

[eh613c]

They don't really care about whether the house is clean or the closets are organized. They are really just making sure the house is what you claim it is and there aren't any big glaring issues such as no floor, huge hole in the wall, etc.

:yeahthat:

I believe when they do appraisals, they take measurements to make sure that your sq footage is what you say it is. Also, they take a look at the upgrades that you've made.

[ett]

They don't really care about whether the house is clean or the closets are organized. They are really just making sure the house is what you claim it is and there aren't any big glaring issues such as no floor, huge hole in the wall, etc.

:yeahthat: We just got our house appraised last week and I did clean up the house quite a bit. It is usually such a wreck with toys everywhere that I would be very embarrassed to have anyone come into the house. At a minimum, you wouldn't want the person to trip over any toys on the floor. :) Our appraiser did not take any measurements but did get pictures of all the rooms, oil furnace and tank, water heater, and electrical breakers.

[MaiseyDog]

We have a large walk in closet in the master and the apprasial guy did take pictures and measure in it. He did not open cabinets or closets in the other bedrooms that were just typical size closets.

[WatchingThemGrow]

I went to the bank to talk to them about lending us money for a new house. He pulled out the appraisal they'd done and flipped through the pages. I was horrified to see the pictures or massive chaos, and I didn't realize they were taken. MIL met the guy at our house while we were out of town. Wonder if they talked about what a mess it was.

[reneed]

I work for a major lender and TRUST me, you can't imagine what we see. I had one come back with UNDERWEAR hanging on a clothes line in a formal living room. Cotton big bloomers to be exact. Another one came back with a cost of 3k to clean because the house was so filthy dirty. I mean dirty diapers on the dining room table. Dirty dishes in every room of the house and no way to tell what the floors were because there was stuff thrown in every square inch. The tub was BLACK with grime. Trust me, toy clutter is nothing! (and other than the 3k to clean a mess will not effect your value!)
worry about nothing!

[calv]

I work for a major lender and TRUST me, you can't imagine what we see. I had one come back with UNDERWEAR hanging on a clothes line in a formal living room. Cotton big bloomers to be exact. Another one came back with a cost of 3k to clean because the house was so filthy dirty. I mean dirty diapers on the dining room table. Dirty dishes in every room of the house and no way to tell what the floors were because there was stuff thrown in every square inch. The tub was BLACK with grime. Trust me, toy clutter is nothing! (and other than the 3k to clean a mess will not effect your value!)
worry about nothing!

so if I shove EVERYTHING in the basement then I don't have to worry too much? LOL. I hid all the pillow pets and darn toys! Too bad I can't keep it llike this for long. Look like it did when it was just DH & I pre-kids ;)

[Raewyn]

On our house, the appraiser did take a look at the basment. Looked at the furnace etc. He could see the improvements we'd made down there too - not a finished basement as we don't have egress windows, but we did put up drywall to make it nicer in the winter and some flooring.

Ours did not open any cupboards or closets, although he did look in the crawl space

[reneed]

Throw the stuff in bins in the basement, or closet, or in the living room if it makes you feel better, I understand how you feel totally. They do usually take a pic of the basement to show the meters, heating system, electric etc. and that there is no water issue. Honestly, just the fact that you're thinking about it shows that your house is clean and maybe just lived in!! Seriously!
I am having my sons b-day party next weekend so I put alot of his toys away in bins and the house looks SOOOO big and clean like you said. I expect that to last one week and the toy piles will be back. LOL

[ett]

so if I shove EVERYTHING in the basement then I don't have to worry too much? LOL. I hid all the pillow pets and darn toys! Too bad I can't keep it llike this for long. Look like it did when it was just DH & I pre-kids ;)

They will go to the basement. Better to shove everything in the closet.