What do appraisers look at during a home appraisal?

Half the appraisal happens before I ring your doorbell

Freddie Mac splits what appraisers look at into two piles. The first pile is out of your hands: the location, the total lot size, the comparable sales in the area and the market conditions. You can't repaint your zip code.

Comparable sales, or comps, are recent sales of similar homes nearby. They carry most of the weight. Before I ever drive to a house, I have already pulled the sales, looked at what is pending and active, and checked how fast homes are selling right now. That last part matters. I read the market as close to today as the data allows, not as a lazy 12-month average that blends a spring bidding frenzy with a fall slowdown and calls the mush "the market."

So when a seller asks me what they can do to raise the value, the honest answer starts with this: most of the number is already set by what buyers paid for houses like yours. The visit is where I confirm what your house is, so I can line it up against those sales fairly.

What I check inside and outside the house

Here is the on-site list, based on what Freddie Mac tells homeowners appraisers note:

• Size and layout: living area above ground, plus the count of rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms.
• Garage and parking: how many cars, attached or detached, and the driveway surface.
• ADU potential: whether zoning allows an accessory dwelling unit and how that affects value.
• Overall condition: and whether the house fits the standards of the neighborhood.
• Systems: type and condition of heating and cooling.
• Finishes: floors, walls and trim, plus which major kitchen appliances are there.
• Energy features: efficient windows, tankless water heaters, solar panels.
• Exterior: wall materials, roof type and condition, porches, decks, patios and pools.
• Foundation and attic: foundation type and condition, and whether a basement or attic is finished.

I also measure the outside of the house and photograph the front, back, street and main rooms. Those photos go to the lender, who has never met your house and is trusting me to describe it straight.

A few counting rules I follow trip people up. A detached ADU or cottage never goes into the main house's square footage. I value it on its own line. A toilet that does not flush is still a bathroom. It is a condition problem, not a missing room. And in my view a room does not need a closet to be a bedroom, since the building code defines habitable rooms without one. Local MLS and lender habits vary, so what matters is how buyers in your market treat that room.

What appraisers do not do

An appraisal is not a home inspection. Opendoor's guide puts it plainly: the appraiser looks at the roof from the ground and will not move furniture, open walls or do anything invasive. Systems get checked to see whether they appear to work, not taken apart.

I do not climb on your roof. I have great respect for ladders, mostly from a distance. If I see missing shingles or a sagging ridge line from the yard, that goes in the report. If I can't see something, I say so.

I also do not value your stuff. The sectional, the art, the wine fridge that is not built in: all personal property. You are taking it with you, so it is not part of what the lender is lending on.

And I do not price the house by what you spent. That is where a lot of sellers get surprised.

Which upgrades actually move the number

Redfin's guide quotes an appraiser who sums it up well: permanent, functional improvements carry the most weight. Think updated kitchens and baths, added square footage, finished basements and newer major systems like the roof, furnace and electrical.

Fresh paint and new landscaping help a home show and sell. They rarely move the appraised number much. The same goes for luxury finishes that go past what the neighborhood supports. A $9,000 range in a starter-home tract is a lovely place to boil pasta. It is not a lovely place to park equity.

Here is how I think about it. I do not ask what an upgrade cost. I ask what buyers in your market have actually paid for it, and I measure that from real sales: two similar homes, one with the feature and one without, and the price difference between them. That is called paired sales. If the market did not pay for it, I can't either. Facts over feelings.

Condition matters more than most people expect. In the markets I work, buyers react to condition more than age. A 1960s house with a redone kitchen and baths can outsell a tired house built decades later.

How to get ready for the visit

1. Make a list of upgrades with dates: roof, windows, HVAC, kitchen, baths, permits. Hand it to the appraiser.
2. Clear access to the electrical panel, water heater, furnace, attic hatch and crawl space.
3. Unlock everything: garage, gates, sheds and any detached rooms.
4. Fix the small, visible stuff: a dripping faucet, a broken outlet cover, a missing handrail. These can turn into repair conditions.
5. Know your permits. If you added a room or converted a garage, have the paperwork ready.
6. Leave the comps to me. If you or your agent know about a recent sale I might miss, send it through the proper channel. Do not try to persuade me with the brownies. I will eat the brownies. The value stays the same.