A typical real estate appraisal appointment will take approx 25 minutes, at the home. That includes both the  interior and exterior inspection. A sketch of the room layout is made and digital photos are taken of the home as well as any out buildings that may be on the property.

Upon completion of the inspection the real estate appraiser appraiser goes to the town hall to
obtain a legal description and plot plan of the home being appraised. He will also check assessor
records, zoning and building departments for compliance. At this time he will also obtain
information on similar property sold in the neighborhood .

Upon return to the office the real estate appraiser will  look for additional information on property
that have sold recently in the neighborhood that are close in size, room count. age and style as
well as extra features similar to the subject property. This information is obtained from the local
Multiple Listing System, Commercial Record and office data files.

After determining the comparable properties that will be used in the real estate appraisal report
the appraiser will drive by the homes take an exterior photo and verify as much information as
possible from the road. These sales will be used in the market data section of the report and
adjustments will be made where the properties differ.

A report containing as much information as possible will be prepared with a description of the materials used, number of rooms, condition and style (colonial, ranch, cape, etc). The report will also include a description of the site and neighborhood with positive conditions like proximity to shopping, school and employment or negative conditions like excess traffic, highway noise and nearby commercial property.

A national cost handbook is used to determine what it would cost to rebuild the home today. This
will be depreciated based on condition, utility and off property conditions. The income approach
to value is seldom used because most single family homes are not used for income purposes.

When all the approaches to value are completed a weighted conclusion of value is determined.
The real estate appraisal report is than sent over the internet or mailed to the client usually with
in 24 hours after inspection.