IF THERE IS ONE THING in a real estate transaction that almost always causes some anxiety, it is the appraisal. This has been a topic of many conversations between me and borrowers and their Realtors. In my opinion, the cause of much of the anxiety is fear of the unknown — not to mention a complete lack of any control over the process.

The thing to understand about appraisals is that they are part art, and part science. The appraised value of a property is truly the appraiser’s opinion. His or her conclusions are subjectively based on the science of comparable properties that have sold in the recent past.

Quite often I will hear a home buyer or seller tell me that they believe a property is worth such and such based on the square footage cost of other properties. How wonderful my life would be if it were really that simple.

The reality is that square footage is just one measure; there are many more considerations that an appraiser will look at, and that is where subjectivity comes into play in the process.

The condition of a property plays a pretty significant role in the value that an appraiser will ultimately assign it. Your neighbor with similar square footage may have far less value if — even as your home has been updated — he has not done any improvements in 40 years and still has the vintage olive green appliances and orange shag carpeting.

Views, lot size and location are other points where there is a little science and a little subjectivity. The appraiser may be able to come to a soft conclusion of the value of these items by comparing sales of similar properties. Assigning an exact value when comparing one view to another involves subjectivity. Location adjustments are similar: An appraiser must, for example, assign a value determination for a court location versus a busy street, then determine whether it is a really busy street or perhaps just a little busy.

Inquiring minds want to know, and homeowners have always had an interest in their home’s current value. The methods used to determine a home’s value have improved greatly over the years. It used to be that you had to rely on snooping around your neighbor’s house during an open house, or in some cases the local newspaper would print a listing of homes in the area with prices of homes that sold.

The Internet has changed this — now you can snoop from the comfort of your own living room simply by logging onto one of many sites that are now available. The only problem with this form of snooping is that when you’re browsing around on the Internet, most of these sites are also snooping on you.

I use a tool called the Sold Home Alert®, provided by Home Buyers Marketing II Inc. (HBM2). This is a monthly report that is sent to all my clients detailing all the homes sold within their neighborhood, complete with MLS details and even photos and maps. With this tool, my clients don’t have to browse the Internet at all, as the report sends them all the information they need.

If you would like to receive this free report, just drop me a line with your email address and I will have it sent to you.

The real estate industry is changing fast. More and more people shop for homes online months before ever contacting a real estate agent or mortgage professional. Zillow, Trulia and others are media companies that are making a fortune capturing potential home buyers’ and sellers’ information and selling it to industry professionals.

The real estate industry is quickly adapting to this new way of business. Many firms now offer free apps that allow folks to search available homes without the intrusion of marketing and ads. The quality of these apps varies, but most are rich with content and contain accurate information since they owned by real estate companies.

Guy Benjamin (CAL BRE License #01014834, NMLS 887909) writes a weekly column for The Herald, offering general information on real estate matters. As it is impossible to address all possibilities and variations, he will try to answer individual questions by readers who contact him at 707-246-0949 or guyb@fairwaymc.com.

The Home Scouting Report® (HSR) and Sold Home Alert® (SHA) are free home finding services provided directly to home buyers by HBM2, a licensed real estate brokerage services company. The loan officer’s role is to assist in determining a comfortable home price range for HBM2 to use when it is searching for property listings within a home buyer’s search criteria. The loan officer is neither an employee of HBM2 nor the provider of the HSR or SHA. ©2015 Home Buyers Marketing II, Inc. (HBM2)

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