North Vancouver Real Estate Valuation

How The Appraisal Process Works

Members of the Appraisal Institute of Canada (AIC) perform a variety of professional services relating to real estate valuation. Often they are asked to provide their professional opinion on a specific property including its value, utility and quality whenever a property is sold, developed, mortgaged or assessed.

Mortgage lending is one of the primary reasons for an appraisal. Lending institutions often require confirmation of market value in order to provide a mortgage loan for the purchase of property, if a line of credit is required for renovation purposes or when a mortgage term is being renewed.

Often times an appraisal is required for mediation, arbitration or litigation support. In divorce settlements, without an appraisal the judge will not be able to determine how much your property is worth. The appraisal process provides an unbiased opinion of value so a fair agreement can be made between both parties involved.

An appraiser will use a number of different approaches in the appraisal process to arrive at the market value of the property.

Comparing properties is a key method in real estate valuation and requires the comparison of neighboring properties that have recently sold. The selected properties must also provide similar characteristics to the subject property. The comparison of similar properties that have sold provides a valuation benchmark for the subject property. If the object is to provide market value, then recent adjusted sales simulate what the property would most likely sell for in the open market. Think of a comparable as what the market is willing to pay for a property of similar location and features.

Anthony Rivard is a member of the AIC and provides residential real estate valuation for the Greater Vancouver area.