An appraisal's a real estate agent's estimate of your home's market value. This dollar number is a ball- park estimate of what your home may sell for.

If you're interested in selling your home, you may enlist the service of a real estate appraiser to provide a professional estimate value of your property.

In order to appraise real estate property, appraisers must be licensed or certified by the state. They're usually required to complete a certain amount of real estate course work and acquire hours of supervised appraisal work.

An appraisal is an expert judgment or estimate of the value of real estate as of a given date, based on market comparison. The following factors are used to determine the value of the property: the amount of land and landscaping, the size and number of rooms and bathrooms, the size of the kitchen and its storage space, the size and condition of the basement, attic and screened-in porches, and the quality of construction.

The buyer pays for an appraisal of the property as part of normal mortgage closing costs. The lender will require an appraisal of the property to assure that the value of the property is sufficient for the loan.