How Long is a Real Estate Appraisal Good For?

In the past lenders would accept an appraisal done as far back as six months to be a valid appraisal for the assessment of property value. Unfortunately these are some very unpredictable economic times and we have been seeing the values of homes fall consistently in reaction to market conditions. The reductions in price have been pretty significant in certain parts of the country. For this reason don't be surprised if a lender requests a new appraisal even if the previous one was done only one or two months ago. Within that short period of time the value of your home could have changed dramatically.

They like to look at comparables in the area that have recently sold. Sometimes there are none to look at and if there are they may not accurately reflect the values of homes today in a particular area no matter how recent they are.

Every lender will not accept the appraisal that you had done last time even if it is within their allotted time frame. A lot of lenders just like to have their own appraisal done. In certain instances you can get away without having a new appraisal if the last appraisal was done by one of the new lenders approved appraisers. Most lenders will have a number of real estate appraisers that they use to access the value of properties for lending purposes.

To become approved by a lender to be a valid appraiser there is a process for approval that they go through. Lenders want to make sure that the appraisal being done is as accurate as possible. It can't hurt to ask your lender if they will accept an appraisal that was recently done. You just never know how they will respond.

Right now we are in a recession and conditions continue to remain unstable. Eventually when we pull out of this economic downturn we are sure to see a more stable real estate market. Lenders will probably, when that time arrives, be more willing to accept appraisals that have been done a little longer than two or three months ago. For now there does not seem to be anything that is written in stone it will probably be up to your lender and how they interpret the market conditions as well as their ability to access comparables done within a reasonable time frame.

Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_long_is_a_home_appraisal_valid_to_calculate_the_value_of_the_house_and_can_the_value_of_a_house_go_down_in_high_growth_markets

Source: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080211110839AAhwS3k

Source: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=loans&thread.id=28309