Appraisals are an important part of the buying and selling process for homeowners, realtors, and anyone else involved in the process. While a lot of information is available about properties and their value online, appraisals tend to be more elusive. If you want to find information about a home’s value or any type of item, you may be wondering: Are appraisals public record?
Unfortunately, the short answer is no, but there is some nuance to that. Read on to learn more about appraisals, their confidentiality, and how to find information about them.
What Is an Appraisal?
An appraisal is an estimation of the value of something, typically a property. That said, appraisals have to come from unbiased sources to ensure that the valuation remains fair. For this reason, most appraisals are done by third parties who aren’t directly involved in the transaction. Some state offices, like the county tax assessor, may also commission appraisals.
Typically, appraisals are used for real estate evaluation, insurance claims, donations, and even business valuations. While this information is important, you’ll notice that finding it is easier said than done due to how these records are handled.
Are Appraisals Public Records?
Appraisals aren’t typically public records. They tend to remain confidential until they’re accessed by an agency or used for properties associated with the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). While this is true for housing, it may not be true for other areas of appraisal. For example, if an item was appraised at a certain value and then stolen, there’s a good chance that those records are available due to their use in court.
There are also some other niches where appraisals can be public records, like during insurance claims, so it’s always worth having a look.
How to Find Appraisals
If you want to find records of an appraisal, you have a few options. You can use a public records search tool, work with real estate agents, and much more. Learn about the best ways to find an appraisal below.
Publicrecord.com
When you want to find an appraisal in public records, the best tool you can leverage is Public Record’s search engine. It’s the most effective tool out there when it comes to sourcing records about an address because it’s connected to millions of public records databases. Plus, the chances of running into an error or getting bad information are pretty close to zero.
Once you know the property you want to check, you can add it to the search tool and begin the process. The platform will then compile a full report that allows you to view all available records about that property, which includes any appraisal documentation. That said, the drawback is that you’ll only be able to use a tool like this for properties involved in the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or in cases where records of an appraisal were sourced by insurance companies or other agencies.
Still, you can also find liens, information about tenants, and much more when you run a search with publicrecord.com, so it’s a good idea to check for more information about an appraisal.
Contact Your County Assessor’s Office
Most counties have an assessor’s office, which is responsible for housing information about appraisals. For this reason, it’s a good idea to contact this office if you need information about a specific appraisal.
You can either go in person, make a phone call, or check to see if there is a website. While this may not work for ongoing appraisals, it’s not a bad way to check for historic ones.
Online Home Value Estimators
Online home value estimators are also great tools to help you find information about appraisals. While you won’t be able to get the exact value of the home this way, it gives you a rough idea of the value of the home. Therefore, you have a ballpark of what to expect.
Find Appraisal Records Today
Appraisal records are important because they can help you find information about the value of a home or property. While these records tend to be confidential, you can usually find similar information or check with your county assessor to see if historical information is available.
While finding appraisals is a good way to start learning about a property, make sure you don’t stop there. We recommend using a reliable public records search tool to learn everything you can about a property.
