Mom is paying cash for house. Should she still get an appraisal? (contingency, agent)
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What does the agent she is using say about the comps?
Has your mom signed a contract already? Does it have an appraisal contingency? If the appraisal is lower than her contract price, will she just let the home go? Will the sellers negotiate a lower price?
The appraisal "for peace of mind" is a waste of money. The appraisal if your mom is going to take action based on the results is a good idea.
It's all about her comfort levels. If she is comfortable with the price for the home in the area it's in, no need to shell out the money. If she thinks she might be over-paying for the house, then of course you need an appraisal. Ask her what her comfort level is and go from there. Appraisals are typically for a bank to ensure their investment as they don't know the market. If she looks at comparable sales and looked at other houses in the same price range and she felt this one was the best of everything she looked at, she is probably fine with her comfort level of the house.
Our realtor says to still do an appraisal "for the peace of mind"
Is it worth spending the money (around 400$) in her kind of situation?
In the absence of OTHER independently sourced, reliable and legitimate data...
and/or you & Mom are unable or unwilling to do the "leg work" involved yourselves...
(to look up tax records and recent sales and drive around to compare)
paying a pro that modest fee for their service has a lot of merit.
If she has a buyer's agent, that agent will do a price comparison and find some comps for her. That way she can see what prices have been in the area.
She has to understand that the comp houses are not available to her and just because one down the street sold for less doesn't mean she can get the price matched. Also, low priced sales are often in need of expensive fixing up. She's going to have to study what is offered on the market and choose from those at those prices.
But, yes, have the agent pull some comps for you. If things are selling fast, she might have to pay more than sales a month ago, but probably won't want to pay $100,000 more than anything else sold for.
I don't get appraisals when I am paying cash, but I live here and have a pretty good idea of what is a good deal in my market.
I did not ask for an appraisel when I paid cash last year because I had looked at so many houses and knew it was "right" for the area. I also plan to live out my life here, which gave me some peace of mind about the purchase.
It's all about her comfort levels. If she is comfortable with the price for the home in the area it's in, no need to shell out the money. If she thinks she might be over-paying for the house, then of course you need an appraisal. Ask her what her comfort level is and go from there. Appraisals are typically for a bank to ensure their investment as they don't know the market. If she looks at comparable sales and looked at other houses in the same price range and she felt this one was the best of everything she looked at, she is probably fine with her comfort level of the house.
The Realtor could easily show mom figures on comparable sales. I would much rather see her spend the money on an inspection.
It depends if she's buying it as an investment or as a forever home. DH & I paid cash for our house, and we'd been sent a list of the comps by our realtor prior (as well as doing our own research) so we know that the price we paid was very fair, all things considered.
We didn't bother with spending the extra money for an appraisal as we plan on living here a long time. We also trusted the advice and approximate value of the house given to us by our buyer's agent's broker (who was an expert appraiser).
I honestly wouldn't worry about the appraisal at all
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