Relocation Appraisal

Not a mortgage appraisal

A relocation appraisal estimates a home's likely sales price within a specific timeframe. Where a mortgage appraisal looks backward at historical data to support lending, a relocation appraisal is prospective: it forecasts near-future value with a marketability period that typically does not exceed 120 days.

Factors include competition from new construction, historical price trends, and current mortgage rates. The methodology is more comprehensive: expect an hour or more of on-site inspection covering interior condition, landscaping, improvements, and deficiencies.

For employers and employees

When employers purchase a relocating employee's home, the purchase price has to be right for both sides. KO Appraisal provides the precise, unbiased valuation that makes those programs work, adhering to USPAP standards for ethical and objective appraisals.

Who orders this appraisal

• Relocation management companies
• Corporate HR
• Transferring employees

The rules that govern it

Worldwide ERC Summary Appraisal Report, Corporate relocation runs on its own report form, not the Fannie Mae 1004/URAR used for mortgage lending. The ERC form was built for a different decision: whether an employer should buy the home from a transferring employee, and at what price.

Anticipated sales price, not market value, This is the distinction that catches people out. A lending appraisal reports market value assuming reasonable exposure to the market. A relocation appraisal reports the price at which the property is expected to sell within a specified marketing period, typically a defined window such as 120 days, set by the relocation policy. A constrained selling period is a different question, and it can produce a different number from the same property on the same date.

Still USPAP work, The report form is different; the standards are not. A relocation appraisal is developed and reported under USPAP like any other assignment, and the shortened marketing period is disclosed as a condition of the assignment rather than buried.

Two or three appraisals, then a reconciliation, Relocation policies commonly commission more than one appraisal and average or reconcile them, sometimes discarding an outlier. An appraiser working these assignments knows their number will sit beside another appraiser’s and be compared line by line.

How it works

1. Confirm which relocation management company is involved and obtain its specific requirements: the marketing period, the report form, and the turnaround.
2. Establish whether this is a Buyer Value Option, an appraised-value offer, or a purely informational assignment. The intended use differs.
3. Inspect and analyse against the specified marketing period, not an open-ended one.
4. Report on the ERC form with the marketing period assumption stated explicitly.
5. Expect a review, and expect comparison against a second appraisal.

What you receive

Relocation appraisal on the industry summary report form. Standard turnaround is 1–3 weeks. Rush appraisals available for urgent deadlines.

Common questions