Just like banks who provide mortgages for people buying a home to live in, most private lenders, who finance real estate investors, require an appraisal on a property before making a loan. The appraisal is used to protect the lender – it helps them evaluate if it’s a good deal for the investor and the appraised value is also usually used to set the maximum loan amount. I have been doing appraisals for private lenders for over 10 years. During that time on many occasions the appraisal has differed significantly from the borrower’s estimate of value. Often times this is because the investor does not fully understand how appraisers select the comparable sales used to value the property. If you understand these three things about appraisals, it will help you evaluate your deals…