I’m Andrew Young of Mortgage Wise Financial and Community Mortgage Movement.

What’s the deal with Needing An Appraisal When You Have 20% Down?

To begin with, an appraisal is an unbiased estimate of the value of a home you want to buy or already own by a third party appraiser. It is basically an analysis of recently sold properties, active properties, terminated properties, and expired properties around your area to determine the value of your home right now. Most lenders will consider recent within the last 30 days. A lot of people ask me “Why do the lenders need an appraisal when I have 20% down or more?” This a real easy question to answer. When you have less than 20% down for a down payment, a lender has to go to CMHC, Canada Guarantee, or Genworth to get third party insurance. This then means that the onus is on the insurance company if you were to default on your mortgage. When you have 20% down or more, this means that the onus is on the lender itself. Therefore the lender wants to make sure that the value for the home, if the worst-case scenario were to happen (you were to default on your insurance). They have to go in, take the home and then sell it again on the market. This is why you need an appraisal, even if you are paying 20% or more for your down payment I’m Andrew Young and that’s the deal.