You’ve owned a magnificent bungalow in the greater metropolitan area for several years, but since the departure of your children, the house seems too big. So you’re thinking of putting it up for sale. A friend suggests you call in a building inspector to find out the market value. But you thought this kind of work was more the domain of a real estate appraiser. Read our article or watch our short video (in french only) as we speak with Simon Gagné-Lefebvre of Cap Immobilier to break down for you the difference between a real estate appraiser and a home inspector.

“A real estate appraiser is a professional whose duties include, but are not limited to, estimating the market value of a property, whether it’s a house or any other type of real estate,” says Simon from Cap Immobilier. “To do this, the real estate appraiser must perform several tasks:

1. The appraiser begins by gathering detailed information about the property to be appraised. During his visual inspection of the premises, he observes details of the property’s location, physical condition, specific features, improvements and surrounding amenities. He asks questions to obtain any other relevant data on the building’s condition, apparent and known problems and so on. It is at this stage that the appraiser will consult the inspection report on the subject property.
2. Next, the real estate appraiser conducts an analysis of the local real estate market to understand current trends, prices of similar properties recently sold in the area, supply and demand, interest rates, and other factors that could influence the property’s value.
3. Once the information gathering and real estate market analysis have been completed, we move on to the data analysis stage. The real estate appraiser calculates the property’s market value based on objective data, applying two or three recognized valuation methods.
4. Once the analyses are complete, the appraiser prepares a detailed appraisal report that explains his methodology, presents the data used, describes the property and indicates the estimated value. This report is used by interested parties such as buyers, sellers, mortgage lenders and real estate professionals.

Property appraisals are essential in most real estate transactions, providing crucial information for making informed decisions about buying, selling, financing and other aspects of real estate.”

The home inspector, meanwhile, provides a detailed report on the condition of the property, highlighting existing problems, safety issues, hazards and necessary repairs. In other words, he must identify apparent defects and indications of hidden defects, so that potential buyers are well informed about the property’s actual condition before finalizing the purchase.

In other words, the real estate appraiser focuses on estimating the market value of a property, while the home inspector concentrates on assessing its physical condition as it stood at the time of the inspection. But despite the differences, these two professionals share a common goal: to ensure fair and informed real estate transactions.