Will I Need a Home Appraisal When Applying for a Home Equity Line of Credit?

A home appraisal is an impartial evaluation of a home’s value performed by a professional appraiser. It is determined by looking at the vital statistics of your home, which include:

– Square footage of the home
– Number of bedrooms
– Number of bathrooms
– Condition of the home
– Home improvements
– Sale price of recently sold comparable homes

What an appraisal allows a bank to do is confirm that the value of your home is more than the outstanding balance on your mortgage plus the amount you are looking to borrow on your Home Equity Line of Credit.

To determine whether or not you need an appraisal, you’re going to have to look at a couple different variables, which can differ from bank to bank. At Ephrata National Bank, if you are looking to borrow less than $250,000 on a primary residence and the property is 10-acres or less, then generally we will not require a home appraisal.

There, of course, are some exceptions, especially for certain agricultural properties, but those are the general guidelines.

One variable that will not matter is whether or not you’ve had an appraisal performed recently. If the bank determines that an appraisal is needed, then we will want to get one based on information that is as current as possible.

If you have more questions, visit our HomeLine page or if you’d like to speak with someone, give us a call at (717) 733-4181.