The VA appraisal is not a home inspection

Why this page exists

The most expensive assumption a VA buyer makes

I served in the Marine Corps and I sell houses in a city built around NAS Jacksonville, Mayport, Blount Island, Kings Bay and Camp Blanding. A very large share of my buyers use their VA benefit, and the same misunderstanding comes up over and over: the VA appraisal gets treated as a free home inspection.

It is not one. It is a lender's tool for protecting the loan. It happens to include a condition review, which is why the confusion is understandable, but the person doing it is not hired by you, does not report to you, and is not looking for the things that will cost you money in year three.

Side one

What the VA appraiser actually does

Two jobs, in one visit.

The output is an appraisal report with conditions. The conditions must be cleared before closing, usually by the seller. It is not a sixty-page document about the house. It is a short list of things blocking the loan.

Local reality

What MPRs actually flag on Northeast Florida houses

In this market the same handful of items come up again and again, and knowing them in advance changes which houses you write on and how you write the offer.

• Roof condition and remaining life. The most common MPR problem in Florida by a distance. A roof at the end of its life is both an MPR issue and an insurance issue, and the second one is often harder to solve than the first.
• Active leaks and water intrusion, including stains that suggest one.
• Wood-destroying organisms. A WDO inspection is standard practice on VA purchases in Florida, and evidence of active infestation or damage has to be addressed.
• Peeling or chipping paint on pre-1978 homes, because of lead-based paint rules. Extremely common in Murray Hill, Springfield, Riverside and the older Westside.
• Exposed wiring, missing junction box covers, missing handrails, and similar safety items.
• Mechanical systems that must function. Heating has to work. In Florida, cooling gets attention too.
• Private well and septic. If the property is not on city water and sewer, expect requirements around water testing and system condition. Very relevant out past Middleburg, in Baker and Bradford counties, and in rural Clay.

Side by side

Two different jobs

You need both. The appraisal is the price of using the benefit. The inspection is the price of knowing what you bought.

How to run it

The order I run a VA purchase in

1. Inspection first, immediately. Book it the day we go under contract. The appraisal takes longer to come back and costs more to waste.
2. Wind mitigation and 4-point at the same visit. Send them straight to an insurance agent. Get a real premium number inside the inspection period.
3. WDO inspection. Standard on VA files in Florida.
4. Well and septic testing if the property is not on city services. This has a lead time — start it early.
5. Negotiate on the inspection, not the appraisal. By the time appraisal conditions appear, your leverage is mostly gone.
6. Then let the appraisal do its job. If conditions come back, they are usually items the inspection already told us about.

There is a fuller walkthrough of what a general inspection covers and what it costs on my home inspection guide, and a directory of licensed local inspectors on the inspector page.