Every word of the film, for reading instead of watching.
Before V A guarantees your loan, someone goes out to look at the house. Not someone the seller picked. Not someone the lender picked. An appraiser assigned by V A, from V A's own panel.
The appraiser has two jobs. First, value. Is the house worth what you agreed to pay? Second, condition.
V A holds every property to its minimum property requirements. The house has to be safe. Structurally sound. And sanitary.
One honest boundary. This is not a home inspection. The appraiser will not run the furnace or test the appliances. And cosmetic flaws, ordinary wear and tear, do not block a V A loan.
In fact, when the paperwork comes back, V A itself recommends getting an inspection of your own. Take that advice. Now, the part most buyers never hear about. If the value looks like it is coming in below your contract price, the appraiser cannot just file the report.
They have to stop and say so first. Your side gets two business days to send in better comparable sales before the number is final. It even has a name: the Tidewater procedure. And it is not a thumb on the scale.
Nobody is told to hit a target. It is a chance to be heard. The answer arrives as a document called the Notice of Value. It is good for six months.
It lists any repairs the house needs to meet the requirements. And if you believe the number is wrong, you can ask V A to reconsider it, with data behind you. And if the value truly comes in short? Every V A purchase contract carries a clause most contracts do not.
The escape clause. If the house appraises below the price, you cannot be forced to buy it, and your earnest money comes home with you. You can walk. You can renegotiate.
Or you can choose to proceed anyway. Your call, in writing, by law. So. An appraiser nobody in the deal chose.
A house that has to be safe, sound, and sanitary. A warning before any low number lands. And a door you can always walk out of. That is the V A appraisal.
And that completes the set. Start where your question is.