Should I Get an Appraisal Before Listing My Idaho Falls Home?

Here's a question I get from careful sellers all the time: "Should I pay for an appraisal before I put my Idaho Falls house on the market?" It makes sense. You want a solid number before you pick a price, and an appraisal sounds official. For most people my honest answer is no, you probably don't need one. But there are a few times when it's money well spent. And if you just want a starting point before you decide anything, you can get a free Idaho Falls home value report from me first and go from there.

What a pre-listing appraisal actually is

An appraisal is a licensed appraiser's opinion of what your home is worth on a certain date. They come out, measure, look at the condition, take photos, and then compare your house to recent sales nearby. You get a written report with their number and how they got there.

When you order one before listing, you're the client and you pay for it out of pocket. Usually that's a few hundred dollars, and it can run more if you've got acreage or a house that's hard to compare. That's money spent before you've had a single showing.

The catch most people don't know

Your appraisal won't be the one that counts at closing. If your buyer is getting a loan, their lender orders its own appraisal from an appraiser it picks. The lender isn't going to use the report you paid for. So even if your appraisal comes in high, the buyer's appraisal is the one that decides whether the loan amount lines up with the price.

The other thing is timing. An appraisal looks backward at homes that already closed. If you get one in the spring and don't list until fall, the market around you may have moved. In Iona or Ucon, where there aren't a ton of sales in a given month, a couple of new sales can change the picture quite a bit.

What I'd do instead in most cases

For a typical home in Idaho Falls, Ammon, Iona or Ucon, a good market analysis does the job. That means pulling the actual sold prices of homes like yours, looking at what's pending, and seeing what's sitting on the market right now and why. Pending and active listings matter because they tell you where buyers are today, not just where they were three months ago.

I walk through how to do a rough version of this yourself in how to calculate your house's worth. And if you've been staring at an online number that doesn't feel right, read why Zillow says your home is worth less. Between those two, you'll have a decent feel for your range before you ever talk to anyone.

When I put together a price for a seller, I do the same homework, then I come see the house. Condition, updates, the lot, the street, the view out the back window. That's the stuff that moves a price up or down. If you'd like me to do that for your place, request your free home value report and I'll go over it with you, no pressure.

When an appraisal really is worth it

There are some situations where I'd tell you to go ahead and order one.

Your home is one of a kind. A big shop, several acres, horse setup, a custom build, or anything that doesn't have a twin nearby. Out past Ucon or on the edges of Iona, you can have properties where the closest true comparable sold a long way off or a long time ago. An appraiser's written reasoning can help there.

You're settling an estate or splitting with someone. Inherited homes, divorces and family buyouts often need a neutral, documented value. In those cases the paper trail is the whole point, not just the number.

You're selling on your own. If you don't have anyone pulling comps for you, an appraisal gives you something solid to stand on, and buyers may take your price more seriously.

You and your agent can't agree. If you think your agent is pricing too low, or you're worried someone told you a high number just to get the listing, an outside opinion can settle it.

Your house has sat with no offers. If you've had showings but nobody's writing, the price is usually the issue. A fresh appraisal can be a reality check, though honestly, the market is already telling you something.

A few things to keep in mind if you get one

Give the appraiser a list of what you've updated and when: roof, furnace, windows, flooring, kitchen, a finished basement. They can't give you credit for what they don't know about. Have the house clean and easy to walk through. And treat the result as one piece of the puzzle. Buyers decide what your home sells for, and they react to things a report can't capture, like how the place feels when they walk in.

How this fits with selling smart

I started Smart Seller to give people options that fit their situation, and that includes not spending money you don't need to. Every seller I work with gets a real pricing plan built from local sales, whichever of my listing programs they pick. If you want to know more about how I work, here's a little about me, and you can see the areas I cover on my Idaho Falls real estate page.

So should you get an appraisal before listing? If your home is pretty typical for your neighborhood, probably not. Save the money and get a solid market analysis instead. If your home is unusual, or there's a legal or family reason to document the value, it can be worth it. Either way, start with a real number. Get your free Idaho Falls home value and I'll tell you straight what I think your home will sell for, and whether an appraisal makes sense for you. Or email me at alan@smartselleridaho.com. - Uncle Al

Idaho Falls Home Seller FAQs

Does a pre-listing appraisal replace the buyer's appraisal?

No. If your buyer is financing, their lender orders its own appraisal and won't rely on yours. Yours is for your own pricing decisions.

Is a market analysis as good as an appraisal for setting a price?

For most homes in Idaho Falls, Ammon or Iona, yes. A good market analysis uses sold, pending and active listings, so it reflects what buyers are doing right now.

What if my appraisal comes in lower than I expected?

Look at which sales the appraiser used and whether they caught all your updates. A low number is worth understanding before you list, so you're not caught off guard by the buyer's appraisal later.

How long is an appraisal good for?

It's a snapshot of one date. If a few months pass before you list, new sales nearby can change the picture, so treat an old report with some caution.

What's the cheapest way to know my home's value before selling?

Start with a free estimate and a market analysis from someone who knows Eastern Idaho. You can request a free home value report and decide from there if an appraisal is worth it.

Photo: Japanese Friendship Garden on the Snake River in Idaho Falls, Wikimedia Commons, public domain (CC0)