As VA loans continue to grow in popularity, I think it’s smart to address the differences in what a VA appraiser will be looking for versus an independent Home Inspector.
Understanding VA Home Loans: Appraisals vs. Home Inspections
When you’re buying a home with a VA loan, you’ll hear about two important checks on the house: the VA appraisal and the home inspection. While they might sound similar, they serve different purposes. Let’s break down what each one means for you.
What is a VA Appraisal? A VA appraisal is required when you use a VA loan to buy a house. It has two main jobs:
Finding out how much the house is worth
Making sure the house meets basic VA safety standards You’ll need to pay for this appraisal when you start the home buying process.
What is a Home Inspection? A home inspection is different. While it’s not required, it’s strongly recommended. A home inspector looks closely at everything in the house, including:
The structure and roof
Plumbing and electrical systems
Heating and cooling systems
Any potential problems or needed repairs
This usually costs between $400-$700, depending on where you live and how big the house is.
Should You Get Both? Yes! While only the VA appraisal is required, getting a home inspection is a smart move. Here’s why:
It can find problems the appraisal might miss
It helps you plan for future repairs
It can save you money by finding issues early
It gives you information to negotiate repairs with the seller
Remember: A VA appraiser and a home inspector have different jobs. The appraiser makes sure the house is worth the money and meets basic standards. The inspector checks everything to make sure you know exactly what you’re buying.
By getting both, you’ll have the best information to make a smart choice about your new home.
With the purchase of the Kindle or paperback version, a free full-length copy of the audiobook by posting a screenshot of the purchase on your Instagram or X.com page and tag @KnoxvilleRob any time in 2024.
When I was imagining the historic old building that was to become the new home of Frank & Hannah I started looking around where I THOUGHT they’d want to live. It had to be close to downtown Knoxville, but not just anywhere on Gay St.
The empty gap in the 700 block of Broadway. Site of the imaginary Merchant & Moore building in downtown Knoxville a couple blocks from 4th & Gill and Happy Holler.
I was driving up Broadway and noticed THE PLACE! It was conspicuous by its absence – a building that was between 729 and 743 – currently an empty parking and loading area right where Broadway and Central cross.
I have no idea who really owns it or its history, but if you’re in Knoxville, driving up Broadway in the 700 block look for the freshly painted Coca-Cola ad on the side of the building. That empty gap is where I dreamed up the building!
The empty gap in the 700 block of Broadway. Site of the imaginary Merchant & Moore building in downtown Knoxville a couple blocks from 4th & Gill and Happy Holler.
I know there are historic buildings where the original Knoxville newspapers were grown, where Adolph Ochs crafted his skills as a “Printer’s Devil” before creating the Chattanooga and then the New York Times. But for purposes of Principles of Real Estate and Murder it all happened here!
The empty gap in the 700 block of Broadway. Site of the imaginary Merchant & Moore building in downtown Knoxville a couple blocks from 4th & Gill and Happy Holler.
I dropped into Addison’s bookshop in Knoxville to see if anyone had bought Principles of Real Estate and Murder. I’d had a few folks buy it from the “Local Authors” shelf when ANOTHER but dropped in! Audri from Wisconsin randomly brought my book to the counter! It was fun to have an impromptu signing! I ❤️ Knoxville!
In my book “Principles of Real Estate and Murder” the main character (told in first person) wanders a lot of places that I’ve wandered at various times. After I sent the book to print I learned a few things weren’t the same in “Frank’s Knoxville” and the real world.
“I lay in the street trying to gather myself when a young man ran from the patio of Chivo taqueria and said something to me that I didn’t understand.” — Principles of Real Estate and Murder: a Frank Merchant Mystery (Frank Merchant Mysteries Book 1) by Rob Howard
I dropped by Chivo Taqeria in Downtown Knoxville with a copy of the paperback for the manager a couple weeks ago. I think there’s a good chance the diners would hear the report from the gunshots echoing down the downtown canyon that is Gay St. I hadn’t thought about it being winter. The other three seasons there would likely be someone seated at the smattering of tables on their sidewalk patio section. When I was there – Frank might have died for lack of people walking in the area.
In discussing Principles of Real Estate and Murder with several of my friends who had read the book I’ve realized that it was a personal exploration of many of themes I personally deal with in the gray matter between my conscious work and private life. Recommended listening while reading this blog might be the Frank’s Thinks playlist on Spotify!Sunrise over the Tennessee River – looking back on Island Home from beneath South Knoxville Bridge.
Frank Merchant is not me. He’s a lot better than me in some ways. I’m probably better than him in others. That’s how crafting humanity from imagination goes. There are similarities, but I think that could be said for any of us who operate within the society of mankind. Especially in Knoxville.
Each morning I receive a daily group text message from an agent/coach in Michigan, who gives messages on a wide range of subjects from discipline, tips on marketing, mindset and more. When I stop to read them they always hit me in different ways. Sometimes I’m wearing my “Administrator” hat, others I’m waiting for a client to show a house or about to walk into a Listing appointment – at that time my “Realtor hat” is on. After more than 20 years of selling homes in Knoxville and East Tennessee – I become more and more aware of all the different “hats” we wear. Often – if I see a lot of things that might be challenges for a potential buyer during a showing I’ll tell them I’m taking my realtor hat off and putting on the “amateur home inspector” hat – pointing out why this might be the maintenance-free home they think they’re seeing.
Get yourself a PACK – whether it’s a real estate team or a group of realtor friends who will help you get better in your career. Share stories of your successes and challenges and get to your 10,000 hours to be an expert sooner!
A big attraction of real estate to new and potential agents is “freedom” – yes, you set your own hours, but those hours aren’t always the ones you’d think. I remember my first few transactions were all done after hours. I sat in a UT apartment on Sutherland Ave. at 1 a.m. with my friend Mariusz as we went through every aspect of the deal – discussing pros and cons of buying a “pig in a poke” that the HUD foreclosure he’d chosen to offer on represented. I had to reiterate “Nobody knows – but from all I can see it’s a good deal!” The relationship that we forged in that late-night conversation eventually resulted in the purchase and sale of several more homes over the years ranging from less than $50,000 to more than $400,000. The hours you put in always pay off – not always in commission income, but in expertise – which is much more valuable than the effort you put in to gain them.
Don’t be afraid to offer help to your friends! This is Jessica – I met her on Twitter!
What does that freedom cost? Jeff Glover – the Michigan agent – rightly said that in the beginning Freedom is expensive. If you want to exceed what you’d make at that 9-5 job, you’ll probably have to CHOOSE to invest 60 -80 hours per week in THE BEGINNING.
Being willing to cross promote your friends and other folks. The great thing about doing this is that your self-promotion goes much farther! Cross-promoting the people you work alongside makes the whole thing more fun – plus it’s a great way to boost your other pals!
My first year – aside from a couple of family transactions – all the people who ended up as clients were people who already knew and trusted me. They were friends from college who saw that I was working hard in my job, was talking about it (a little of the successes and more of what I’d discovered that might benefit them). This is still true – my Sphere of Influence – people who know me – still make up more than 80% of my client base. Figuring out that my Sphere was larger than I first thought and giving myself permission to talk with them about real estate were the giant leap from 60+ hours of work to real Freedom in my work, growing my database and enjoying financial as well as more personal time freedom. “Being out amongst ‘em” is the secret to that real freedom.
Your Sphere of Influence is anybody you’d eat with – if you would willingly hang out with people – of 150 people statistically at least 3-5 of them will be looking to buy a house in the next year.
I always had call-resistance, always had fears of coming off Salesy to people I knew or met, but was finally empowered one night at a bar in Market Square where I’d chatted with a random fellow about the band that was about to play and the ins and outs of downtown Knoxville. When I innocently mentioned that I had just left from showing houses the whole conversation turned, the random guy peppered me with questions, talking about the house where he rented and how he’d like to be a landlord someday. Instantly, I wasn’t afraid to talk about real estate, realized that I’d put in enough time to know that I could confidently answer the basic questions and felt released from a lot of self-doubt. Of course, it comes back – even now -when I talk to someone who is interested in an aspect outside of my comfort zone. Some things that they taught in my first real estate classes (after the “Pass The Test” classes at real estate school) once I joined Keller Williams (we’re offering full scholarships to real estate school – call with questions 865-385-9070) answered all of my early questions – I wish I’d started with them, since my first company was wonderful, but it was small and didn’t have any set-up for training other than being self-taught.
Basically – being a real estate agent is metaphorically like being a student athlete – you have to learn, you have to practice and you have to perform consistently to keep up your scholarship. That scholarship is a wonderful reward though! Being able to switch hats from student to professor to salesman to therapist – depending on who you’re talking with – that sums up the job.
Not too long ago I had the opportunity to sit down with one of my favorite Knoxville podcasters – literally and figuratively Jody Collins of Feral Giant towers over the competition. Standing at 6’7″ smart, funny and infectiously engaging, Jody has recorded hundreds of hours with a wide range of Knoxville people from all walks of life, highlighting great stories of KnoxLife as well as the experiences of those who have wandered to and from Knoxville. The “fish out of water” stories that have sometimes become a theme in his interviews – Knoxville people out in the world at large and in every situation from creating topiaries in London to mission trips to Brazil.
As an “on the ground” REALTOR (one who actually works with real estate clients in an age of people who purport to be your agent while having a crew of 20+ agents covering all aspects of the agency with the “lead agent” just serving as a figurehead) for the past 17 years, I have learned some of the patterns of realty.
When they first are thinking of selling, friends/clients ask when to put their house on the market. I always tell them Valentine’s Day – that is the ceremonial first day of real estate Mad Season in Knoxville and East Tennessee. The reasons are simple – the first sunny day after Valentine’s Day has always been the time when people figuratively come out of the woodwork looking for a new home, looking to sell and move up (or down) and the sales inventory is always historically low.
This has been a tactical advantage for the people I have helped with listing their homes during this time, since this is also a time when the biggest annual moves in pricing have happened, when homes have appraised for higher and people are able to get the more for their property through cash offers and highly motivated buyers coming in for career moves and other corporate-sponsored relocations where companies help their new management and executives come to Knoxville or sell their homes as they move to another city for advancement.
Our small 5 person team each knows about our transactions and we discuss what’s going on in our weekly meetings and throughout the week – Carrie Mays is our Director of Everything – she’s the broker who knows what’s really going on with each transaction. We call this Mad Season because often my real estate team is working like mad – especially after coming out of comparatively near-hibernation during the preceding holiday season.
It’s not unusual to have 35 or more homes going under contract per month between mid-February and mid-May, when traditionally most sellers catch on that it’s a seller’s market and begin to flood the area with FSBO signs that eventually become our listings after a couple weeks of seeing what we do.
This year in the middle of Mad Season, the Chinese government “released the Kraken” in the form of the evil COVID-19 super virus, that has become the bane of American existence as well as a mass-murderer across the world. While this has had devastating effects on the global economy, has temporarily quashed international (and much of domestic) travel, Mad Season has struggled on. In the past few weeks we have listed and sold 34 homes, several buyers have been moving from areas that are ravaged by the virus, others are part of the movement that was described above – moving for jobs, retiring from high-tax states to the mountains and more tax-friendly climes of East Tennessee.
Here with all the flowering trees blooming and people jogging with their dogs around our gently rolling neighborhoods – “sheltering in place” isn’t nearly as foreboding as in a speedier culture where life only revolves around large cultural gatherings with strangers. We still have LOTS of events and usually mingle with crowds – it just still feels like a “bigger city problem” for many of us.
While pollen and yellow-jackets are still the most obvious perils – there is plenty of fear – social distancing and Zoom meetings are just as much a part of Knoxville life as anywhere else, though today’s Second Bell on-line music festival promises to be fun. It’s still a pale and sickly cousin to the fun of wandering around Suttree’s Landing with friends (and friendly strangers) sampling food truck fare and sampling the wares of one of the 100s of new micro-breweries that continued to pop up in the exploding economy of the past few years.
I can only imagine this is how those in the Roaring 20s of last century felt when the market crash of 1929 happened – leading to the Depression of the 1930s. God forbid that history repeats itself. We can only hope that (albeit slow in the beginning) sharp and decisive actions of the government will keep everything afloat while this all passes. That the strength of the American economy will be enough to carry us through what is proving to be “interesting times.”
Looking forward to the day when we can congregate together freely again.
The virus has had me in a quandary – they say the time to buy is when there is a panic like this one – there are still buyers wanting to see homes. There is still business there waiting to happen. I know with the relief package comes stimulus and I’m not afraid to don some gloves and a mask along with my glasses and go look at some houses! This season is a little less mad, but that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to put in a 16 hour day. I just have a pact with my wife that the clothes go in the laundry, everything is swabbed down with disinfectant and I catch a long hot shower before going in for a welcome home hug and kiss.
Rob Howard is part of Keller Williams – Farragut / Hardin Valley. Each Keller Williams office is independently owned and operated. The main office phone number is 865-966-5005. You can reach Rob Howard at 865-385-9070 or at KnoxvilleRob.com.
It’s an old and popular adage – I know it’s applied in a lot of places – but nowhere is it likely to be truer than in East Tennessee… “If you don’t like the weather – wait a few minutes!” Indeed today in Knoxville is the mightiest example of it – our blazingly beautiful autumn colors of the Maples, Elms, Poplars and other native trees are all arrayed in the richest Reds, Yellows, Oranges and all shades in between – contrasted with the deep rich greens of the Pines and Cedars – while today they have a bonus crystalline white frosting of snow!
Snow … Fall!
Nothing says “Novembruary” like East Tennessee Autumn peak leaf-peeping season set off in a carpet of a few inches of the amazing, temporary white stuff. This is even more striking when ya think about the last 24 hours. Last night when I went to sleep the temperature was a wonderfully comfortable 62 degrees with a morning drop of exactly 30!
Our mornings lately have certainly had the crisp chill of the seasons turning, just enough to give me second thoughts about taking the dog for his early morning wander throughout our neighborhood. Time change, when we “Fall Back” would normally make the 5:30 trip into a nearly crazy 4:30 event – somehow my body also went into hibernation mode with 6:30 feeling like the natural time to awaken.
SnowVember! Yes, the Christmas Tree is indeed up before Thanksgiving!
Like the weather – it seems only the hardiest, most motivated buyers and sellers are raising their hands to buy and sell their homes this time of year. With the uncertainty of what the economy is likely to do in the next year or so, our business is marked by folks who are coming to or leaving town for more marked reasons than other times of the year – job relocations, retiring from high-tax to low-tax states and coming to be near family are the main reasons people are giving these days for their moves.
Never too cold to call Hutch & Howard!
In the past few weeks I have helped friends find an agent wherever they are moving (whether outside the state or in areas that Hutch & Howard aren’t members of the MLS, and helped several others who have sent their friends to me for help in their relocation from elsewhere to the Knoxville area. I love these types of referrals because I know I’m sending my friends to highly qualified agents wherever they’re going. I also feel a special need to treat the folks they have entrusted to me as I expect them to treat my folks. If you’re thinking of moving to or from Knoxville we’d love to help – if you’re leaving town let us help you find an agent in your new town!
