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A home purchase is the largest, single investment most people will ever make. Whether it's a primary residence, a second vacation home or an investment, the purchase of real property is a complex financial transaction that requires multiple parties to pull it all off.

Most of the people involved are very familiar. The Realtor is the most common face of the transaction. The mortgage company provides the financial capital necessary to fund the transaction. The title company ensures that all aspects of the transaction are completed and that a clear title passes from the seller to the buyer.

So who makes sure the value of the property is in line with the amount being paid? There are too many people exposed in the real estate process to let such a transaction proceed without ensuring that the value of the property is commensurate with the amount being paid.

This is where the appraisal comes in. An appraisal is an unbiased estimate of what a buyer might expect to pay - or a seller receives - for a parcel of real estate, where both buyer and seller are informed parties. To be an informed party, most people turn to a licensed, certified, professional appraiser to provide them with the most accurate estimate of the true value of their property.

The Inspection
So what goes into a real estate appraisal? It all starts with the appraiser's inspection (not to be confused with a property inspection by a qualified property inspector looking for physical defects, etc.) . An appraiser's duty is to make a visual inventory of the property being appraised to ascertain the true status of that property. He or she must actually see features, such as the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, the location, and so on, to ensure that they really exist and are in the condition a reasonable buyer would expect them to be. The appraisal inspection often includes a sketch of the property, ensuring the proper square footage and conveying the layout of the property. Most importantly, the appraiser looks for any obvious features - or defects - that would affect the value of the house.  The appraiser, however, is not an expert in termite/pest inspections, soils or geological inspections, or property inspections that look at the integrity of the property's components.  The appraiser may rely upon such inspection reports to influence his or her opinion of the property's value.

Once the site has been inspected, an appraiser uses one, two or three approaches to determining the value of real property: a cost approach, a sales comparison and, in the case of a rental property, an income approach.

Cost Approach

The cost approach is the easiest to understand. The appraiser uses information on local building costs, labor rates and other factors to determine how much it would cost to construct a property similar to the one being appraised. This value often sets the upper limit on what a property would sell for. Why would you pay more for an existing property if you could spend less and build a brand new home instead? While there may be mitigating factors, such as location and amenities, these are usually not reflected in the cost approach.  The cost approach is used mostly in appraisals of homes proposed for construction or that are relatively new,  The cost approach is less relevant for older homes because it is nearly impossible to accurately estimate the amount of physical depreciation that has accrued to the various components of the home such as the roof, plumbing, etc.

Sales Comparison

Instead, appraisers rely heavily on the sales comparison approach to value mitigating factors like location and amenities. Appraisers get to know the neighborhoods in which they work. They understand the value of certain features to the residents of that area. They know the traffic patterns, the school zones, the busy throughways; and they use this information to determine which attributes of a property will make a difference in the value. Then, the appraiser researches recent sales in the vicinity and finds properties which are ''comparable'' to the subject being appraised. The sales prices of these properties are used as a basis to begin the sales comparison approach.

Using knowledge of the value of certain items such as square footage, extra bathrooms, hardwood floors, fireplaces or view lots (just to name a few), the appraiser adjusts the comparable properties to more accurately portray the subject property. For example, if the subject property has a swimming pool and the comparable property does not, the appraiser may add the value of a pool to the sales price of the comparable home. If the subject property does not have an extra half-bathroom and the comparable does, the appraiser might deduct a certain amount from the comparable property.

Income Approach