Realtor Sandra Seymour Blog

  What’s the Difference Between a Home Inspection and an Appraisal? If you’re planning to buy a home , an inspection is an important step in the process. It assesses the condition of the home before you finalize the transaction. It’s also a different step in the process from an appraisal, which is a professional evaluation of the market value of the home you’d like to buy. In most cases, an appraisal is ordered by the lender to confirm or verify the value of the home prior to lending a buyer money for the purchase. Here’s the breakdown of each one and why they’re both important when buying a home. Home Inspection Here’s the key difference between an inspection and an appraisal. Bankrate says : “In short, while an appraisal helps you understand a home’s value, inspections help you understand a home’s condition .” The home inspection is a way to determine the current state, safety, and condition of the home before you finalize the sale. If anything is questionable in the inspectio...

  Balancing Your Wants and Needs as a Homebuyer This Spring Though there are more homes for sale now than there were at this time last year, there’s still an undersupply with fewer houses available than in more normal, pre-pandemic years. The Monthly Housing Market Trends Report from realtor.com puts it this way:  “While the number of homes for sale is increasing, it is still 43.2% lower than it was before the pandemic in 2017 to 2019. This means that there are still fewer homes available to buy on a typical day than there were a few years ago.” The current housing shortage has an impact on how you search for a home this spring . With limited options on the market, buyers who consider what’s a necessity versus what’s a nice-to-have will be more successful in their home search. The first step? Get pre-approved for a mortgage . Pre-approval helps you better understand what you can borrow for your home loan, and that plays an important role in how you’ll put your list toget...