Let’s say that you have slowly but surely saved up money and you are in the process of purchasing your first house. You are excited since this is going to be the home that you and your wife are going to raise your family. However, before you finalize any decision to purchase a home that is not being sold by a developer, you may want to consider hiring the services of a local appraiser in Thailand.
What is an Appraiser?
Appraisers are professionals in the real estate industry who specialize in evaluating the value of homes. You cannot just wake up one day and tell people that you are an appraiser. You need to be able to attend the appropriate classes and be licensed by your government in order to provide such services. The importance of an appraiser in home purchasing decisions is that they can help you determine whether a home is being priced adequately.
There are instances where a home could be priced at a rate that is far above what it should be. By hiring an appraiser, this can help you determine whether you are about to pay an exorbitant amount for a house that should be cheaper. In fact, an appraisal report can often be used by a buyer to negotiate with a seller in order to lower the price of a property that is being sold. This shows how valuable hiring an appraiser can be since they can help you make the right decisions and not wind up with buyer’s regret.
How does Appraisal work?
Appraisal is done by first comparing the price of the house with its counterparts that are also for sale within a given location. After that, aspects related to the condition of the home, its location (whether it’s on a corner lot or not), the size of the lot, the age of the property and the proximity of different shops and services are evaluated. All of these aspects are then tallied to determine the value of the home based on a percentile scoring mechanism. While it is true that pricing a home is up to the individual discretion of the appraisers involved, it is more than likely that they would come up with a similar "score" so to speak with a 5 to 10 percent margin of difference.
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How much would it cost?
The cost of appraisal is often influenced by the general size of a property and the amount of work that would go into creating the report. For example, if you were to search for a home from sites like Property Guru, most of the properties listed there can be appraised for 3,800 THB (Thai Bhat). This is because the sizes of the homes are relatively "normal" and access to records of the current price per square meter for the areas listed are easy to come by.
However, if you are selling a massive property out in one of Thailand’s provinces, the cost of appraisal would scale accordingly. Properties of a dozen hectares or more would cost roughly 15,000 THB for the appraisal report.
How can I contact an Appraiser?
There are several methods that you can utilize in order to contact an appraiser. One of the most obvious is to talk to the broker of the property being sold and ask if they know any appraisers. Considering the fact that most people in the real estate industry within Thailand belong to local real estate organizations, it is likely that they may know an appraiser. Another method would be to use Google and do a quick search online for local appraisal offices in your general area. This is one of the easiest methods of finding an appraiser; however, firms that do advertise online tend to be more expensive than appraisers who are independent.
Dealing with the Home Owner
Before proceeding with hiring an appraiser, you should also ask the seller if they have an appraiser’s report of the property. Most people who want to sell their homes tend to commission one in order to determine an appropriate selling price. Comparing the appraisal reports of the property is a good way of determining what to expect when it comes to the general condition of the home as well as what advantages it has compared to similarly priced properties in the area.
Conclusion
Take the right precautions by hiring an appraiser before you commit to purchasing a home. This way you can avoid developing buyer’s remorse when you realize that you overpaid for a property. Once you sign a contract with the home owner, you cannot go back and tell them you want to renegotiate the price. Your money isn’t going to just fly away, take your time, take the right precautions and use common sense.
