What is the Difference Between an Inspection and an Appraisal?

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Today we'll be speaking about the difference between a home inspection and a home appraisal. Both have different functions in the buying and selling process, so it's important to know the difference. 

A home inspection is done by a professional home inspector, and this person will go through a property to check on the roof, plumbing, air conditioning, water heater, and other vital systems in the home. This protects buyers from purchasing homes with major problems. If the inspector finds something, the buyer will be notified and the agents will have to come to an agreement on how to fix the problem. 

An appraisal is done by someone that's employed by a bank. This person ensures that the bank is not overpaying for a property by visually inspecting the property. They just want to make sure the price is right for the property, and they do not actually examine the furnace, roof, or any other pieces of the infrastructure.

If you have any questions about this, please don't hesitate to contact us! Also, don't forget to reach out to us with questions because we'll answer them in future videos!

Why Can't You Trust Zillow When Searching for Your Home's Value

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More often than not, people check online home evaluation sites like Zillow before they meet with an agent. Today, we answer the questions we hear all the time: "How accurate are Zillow's Zestimates?" and, "Can they be trusted?" 

The short answer is they are not very accurate at all. In fact, in Atlanta, they're off by more than 35% on average. Also, 65% of their estimates are more than 5% off, which can be thousands of dollars in a transaction. 

Zestimate's are made using information from tax assessments, homes that are currently for sale, and homes that have sold recently. Things like square footage, land value, and home value are the major items that are compared to come up with a Zestimate. They don't take specific details about your home's location and upgrades into account. This means Zestimates are often thousands of dollars over or under the actual value of your home. 

At the end of the day, buyers and sellers are the ones who make the market value of a property. In order to get the accurate value, you need to have a real estate professional come and take a look at the home in person. 

If you want to find the true value of your home, or if you have real estate questions of any kind, give us a call or shoot us a quick email. I would love to hear from you!