A home appraisal is an independent professional's estimate of what a home is actually worth, and it exists primarily to protect the lender, even though the buyer is usually the one paying for it. * When you're buying a home with a mortgage, your lender orders the appraisal after your purchase offer is accepted, specifically to confirm they're not lending more money than the property is actually worth. If you're refinancing instead, the appraisal typically gets ordered after you apply for the new loan. * The appraiser's process has two main components. First, an in-person visit to the property itself — measuring the space, noting its condition, and documenting its features, which can take anywhere from about 30 minutes for a modest home to several hours for something larger or more complex. Second, and often more influential on the final number, research into comparable recently sold homes nearby with similar characteristics, pulled from public records and multiple listing service data. * Combining the physical inspection with the comparable sales data, the appraiser produces a written report with their final valuation, which gets shared with both the buyer and the lender for review. * The whole process typically takes 7 to 21 days from order to final report, and the fee itself generally runs $300 to $450, varying with the size and complexity of the home. It's worth distinguishing an appraisal from a home inspection, which is a separate, more detailed evaluation of the home's actual physical systems — plumbing, electrical, structure — rather than its market value; many buyers get both, for different reasons, during the same purchase.