Are Home Appraisals Public Record? What You Need to Know

Home appraisals are an important part of the property buying and selling process. This is because it helps realtors, lenders, buyers, and sellers learn more about the cost of a property.

While this information is available online through platforms like Zillow and through tax assessor’s records, appraisals can be more accurate and tend to be kept between clients and other people who are making the deal.

While appraisals are more private, that doesn’t mean you can’t find information about them, especially if you know where to look. So, are home appraisals public record? Find answers below.

What Is a Home Appraisal?

A home appraisal is an evaluation of a home’s value by a third party who is not directly involved in the transaction. The purpose of one is to have an unbiased party come in and set a value for the home.

While it’s similar to the valuation of a home from a realtor or tax assessor, the main difference is that a licensed appraiser comes in and bases the value of the home on market trends, conditions, unique features, and much more.

Typically, appraisers come into play when someone wants to lend money for a property, buy a home, or refinance.

Are Home Appraisals Public Record?

No, home appraisals aren’t usually public records. This is because the appraisal details are kept between the client and the appraiser. Unlike tax information and other property records, clients and appraisers aren’t required to share this information, and appraisers even have to follow specific confidentiality rules and only share details with their clients.

For this reason, home appraisal records aren’t usually something you can source via public databases.

That said, there are some exceptions. For example, if an appraisal is done on properties for the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the records can become public after the fact. What’s more, some appraisals involved in liens or other financial cases may end up in public records.

How to Find the Value of a Property

If you’re looking for a home appraisal, chances are you want to find the estimated value of a property. While appraisals may be hard to get your hands on unless you’re the client or looking into an FHA property, that doesn’t mean you don’t have options to help you find the right value. Discover the best methods below.

Public Record

The best way to find the value of a home is PublicRecord. Their address lookup tool is great at helping you find the exact value of a property by pulling and combing through millions of public records.

Essentially, publicrecords.com looks through millions of records and databases to find current and accurate information about a property. Therefore, you can find information about any appraisals that have gone through the FHA, along with values a tax assessor or real estate professional has come up with.

Aside from the value of a property, we recommend using publicrecords.com to learn more about a home because you can also find:

• Information about the current owners
• Details about the previous owners
• Contact information for the homeowners
• Whether or not a sex offender lives there
• Criminal records associated with the property
• Court records associated with the property
• Liens and other financial records on the property

The best part is that this information is only some of what you’ll find when you run a property search with publicrecord.com.

Tax Assessor’s Office

The local tax assessor in the area can help you find the value of a home because, in many states, the property tax rate is based on the home’s value. While this might not be as exact as an appraisal, it’s the next best thing. Some offices may house this information in online databases, and others may require you to visit the office in person.

Instead of going through the trouble, publicrecord.com can help you find this information in a matter of minutes.

Real Estate Brokers

Anyone involved in the buying or selling of properties in your area probably has a good idea of what the value of a property is. If you work with a mortgage broker and real estate agent already, this is particularly helpful because they can do all the searching for you. However, if you don’t, you’ll need to find one and begin working with them.

Find the Value of a Home Today!

If you want to find the value of a home today, the best way to do so is to use a public records search tool like publicrecords.com. It will help you find the value of a home in minutes, along with a lot of additional information. That said, you can also find information about the value of homes from tax assessors and real estate professionals in your area.