Avoid These Things That Can Hurt your House Appraisal

Your Appraisal Can Make or Break Your Sale

Most sellers don’t think about the appraisal until it comes in low. Then it’s too late to do anything about it — and suddenly your deal is in trouble.

According to CoreLogic data, 8.6% of home appraisals came in below the contract price as of June 2024. That’s nearly one in ten deals — and the NAR’s November 2025 survey found appraisal issues caused 5% of all sales contract delays. These aren’t rare edge cases. They’re predictable problems that sellers walk into unprepared.

When an appraisal comes in low, you have three options: the seller drops the price, the buyer makes up the difference in cash, or the deal falls apart. None of those are good for you if you’re trying to sell.

The good news: most of what hurts appraisals is fixable. Some of it you can address in a weekend. Some of it requires more planning. And some of it — the stuff you can’t control — at least you’ll know about it going in.

Deferred Maintenance — The Biggest Value Killer

This is the number one thing that hurts appraisals. Not outdated kitchens. Not small square footage. Deferred maintenance — the repairs you kept putting off.

Appraisers are trained to spot neglect. A roof leak that wasn’t fixed and damaged the ceiling. A cracked foundation that was patched with caulk. Rotting wood around windows. Gutters hanging off the fascia. Each one signals the same thing: this house hasn’t been taken care of, and there are probably more problems we can’t see.

The Items Appraisers Check Most Closely

• Roof condition — Missing shingles, visible sagging, or signs of water damage in the attic. A roof at the end of its life gets noted and adjusted for.
• Foundation — Cracks, settling, uneven floors, doors that won’t close properly. These trigger significant adjustments.
• HVAC systems — Old, failing, or non-functional heating and cooling. In Texas especially, a dead AC is not a minor issue.
• Plumbing — Active leaks, low water pressure, slow drains, water stains on ceilings below bathrooms.
• Electrical — Outdated panel, aluminum wiring, missing GFCI outlets near water sources.
• Exterior condition — Peeling paint, rotting wood trim, broken gutters, damaged siding.

Unpermitted Additions and Renovations

This one surprises a lot of sellers. You finished the basement. Added a sunroom. Converted the garage to a bedroom. Put in a second bathroom. Spent $30,000 doing it. And the appraiser can’t count any of it.

If work was done without a permit, appraisers typically cannot include it in the appraised square footage or give full credit for it. Worse — unpermitted work can actually hurt your value if it raises safety concerns or creates title complications.

Why Permits Matter So Much

A permit means the work was inspected and met building codes. Without it, the appraiser has no way to verify it was done correctly. Lenders don’t want to finance improvements that might need to be torn out or redone to bring them into compliance.

If you have unpermitted work, you have a few options before listing:

• Retroactive permits — some municipalities allow this. Call your local building department and ask. It’s worth checking before you assume it’s impossible.
• Disclose it as-is and price accordingly
• Remove the addition if it’s creating a compliance problem

Our guide on selling a house with unpermitted work covers your options in detail if this is a significant issue.

Poor Curb Appeal and Landscaping

Appraisers form an impression before they walk through the front door. That impression affects how they approach everything inside.

This isn’t just about looks — though that matters. It’s about what a neglected exterior signals. Dead landscaping, an overgrown yard, peeling exterior paint, a cracked driveway — these tell the appraiser the property hasn’t been cared for, and they start looking harder for what else might be wrong.

What Actually Moves the Number on Curb Appeal

According to HomeLight’s 2025 agent survey, outdoor improvements rank as the second most impactful upgrade for appraisal value after kitchen and bathroom updates. Specifically:

• A well-maintained fence adds value — especially in family neighborhoods where it’s the norm. Our guide on fences and property value covers exactly when a fence helps and when it doesn’t.
• Fresh exterior paint is one of the highest ROI improvements you can make — costs $2,000–$5,000 for a professional job and recovers most of that in appraised value
• Basic landscaping — mowed lawn, trimmed shrubs, cleared beds — costs almost nothing and makes a meaningful difference
• Driveway cracks and broken walkways get noted by appraisers as deferred maintenance

Location Factors You Can’t Control — But Need to Know About

Some things that hurt appraisals have nothing to do with your house. They’re about where it sits.

These aren’t fixable — but knowing about them helps you set realistic expectations, price correctly, and avoid a low appraisal surprise at the worst possible moment.

What Appraisers Note About Location

• Proximity to busy roads or highways — Traffic noise and safety concerns reduce value. There’s no fix for this, but there are ways to mitigate it — sound-dampening windows, privacy fencing, landscaping buffers. Read our full piece on selling a house on a busy road for what actually works.
• Nearby distressed properties — Foreclosures, abandoned homes, and visibly neglected neighboring properties drag your comps down. You can’t control your neighbors but you can document the gap between your home and theirs when presenting to the appraiser.
• Flood zone status — Appraisers check FEMA maps. A home in a Special Flood Hazard Area gets noted and buyers need flood insurance, which affects affordability and therefore value.
• Industrial neighbors — A factory, waste facility, or commercial operation nearby suppresses residential values. This is baked into your comps — which is why your comps should be from homes facing similar conditions, not from quieter streets.

Outdated Interiors and Functional Obsolescence

Appraisers have a term for features that were once standard but no longer match what buyers want: functional obsolescence. It’s a real line item on the appraisal form and it reduces your value.

What Gets Flagged as Functionally Obsolete

• Closed floor plans — Homes built before the 1990s often have compartmentalized layouts with separate kitchen, dining, and living rooms. Modern buyers want open plans. Appraisers note this as a limitation when comparable homes have open layouts.
• Only one bathroom — A three-bedroom house with one bathroom is harder to sell and gets adjusted down against comparables with two.
• Original 1970s or 1980s kitchens — Harvest gold appliances, laminate counters, and dark wood cabinets read as dated and get compared unfavorably to updated kitchens in comps.
• Popcorn ceilings — Common in homes built before 1980. If they contain asbestos, this becomes a material disclosure issue. If they don’t, scraping them is a cheap cosmetic update that removes a dated visual signal.
• Carpet over hardwood — Many older homes have hardwood floors under carpet. Pulling the carpet to reveal them often increases appraised value at minimal cost.

What’s Worth Updating Before an Appraisal

Not everything. The rule is simple: update what has the highest ROI relative to cost. According to the 2025 Zonda Cost vs. Value Report, minor kitchen remodels return 96% of cost on average nationally — one of the highest ROI projects available. Full gut renovations return far less.

Clutter, Odors, and Presentation

Appraisers are supposed to be objective. They’re also human.

A cluttered, dirty, or bad-smelling home creates a negative impression that influences how the appraiser writes up their condition report. They can’t explicitly penalize you for messy closets — but they can rate your home’s condition lower, and they will if the overall impression is poor.

Specific Things That Affect the Condition Rating

• Pet odors — One of the most common issues. You stop noticing them. The appraiser doesn’t. Deep clean carpets, wash walls, and ventilate thoroughly before the visit.
• Clutter that hides storage space — Appraisers look at storage. A closet stuffed so full you can’t see the walls signals that the house doesn’t have enough storage — which gets noted.
• Evidence of moisture or mold — Water stains on walls or ceilings, musty smell in basement or crawlspace. These raise red flags that require follow-up and often adjustments.
• Smoke damage or odor — Nicotine staining on walls and ceilings is visible and flagged. A home where heavy smoking occurred indoors typically appraises lower.

What to Do If Your Appraisal Comes In Low

It happens. Even with preparation. Here’s what you can actually do about it.

Request a Reconsideration of Value

You can’t directly challenge the appraisal as a seller — only the lender can formally request a review. But you can provide the lender with additional information: comparable sales the appraiser missed, documentation of improvements, evidence of errors in the report.

Focus on factual errors first. Wrong square footage. Comparable sales that aren’t truly comparable. A recent renovation that wasn’t noted. These are the arguments that actually work. “I think my house is worth more” without supporting data rarely does.

Negotiate With the Buyer

If the appraisal gap is small — $5,000–$10,000 on a $350,000 house — negotiating a price reduction is often easier than fighting the appraisal. Buyers may also agree to split the difference or cover the gap in cash if they really want the property.

Get a Second Opinion

If you believe the appraisal was genuinely flawed — not just lower than you hoped — you can request a different appraiser. This costs another $400–$600 and isn’t guaranteed to produce a better result. But if the first appraisal had clear errors, it’s worth pursuing.

Sell As-Is to a Cash Buyer

Cash buyers don’t need appraisals. There’s no lender requiring a specific value. The offer is what it is — based on condition, location, and market — and you close without an appraisal contingency killing the deal. If you’ve had a deal fall through over an appraisal or you’re dealing with a property that has significant issues affecting value, this path eliminates the appraisal problem entirely.

Quick Reference: Fix It or Skip It?

Bottom Line

Most appraisal problems are predictable. Deferred maintenance, unpermitted work, and poor condition are the top three — and all three are either fixable or manageable if you know about them before the appraiser shows up.

Do a walk-through of your own home with fresh eyes a few weeks before listing. Fix what’s obviously broken. Clean what’s visibly neglected. Document every improvement you’ve made. Give the appraiser a comp set that supports your price.

And if your home has issues significant enough that a traditional appraisal will hurt your deal — structural problems, major deferred maintenance, unpermitted work that can’t be resolved — understand that a cash sale sidesteps the appraisal entirely. That’s not always the right answer, but when the numbers work out, it’s worth knowing the option exists.