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VA Appraisal vs a Home Inspection
Crew finishing a concrete slab
A VA appraisal and a home inspection answer different questions. The appraisal is the lender's valuation, and it checks VA minimum property requirements. The inspection is your look at the house, on a separate contract, with an inspector you hire.
Tidewater is the notice that the VA value may come in short of the price. It is a value warning, not a repair list. If you are buying in Duval County on a PCS clock, call (904) 309-0609 before you treat one report as both.
Table of Contents
What the VA appraisal does
The VA appraiser works for the lender. The report has two jobs: what the house is worth, and whether it meets minimum property requirements so the guaranty can attach. You do not pick the appraiser. You do not steer the value.
Value comes from closed sales, not from the payment you need. A ranch in Arlington and a newer house in eTown are not the same comparable set. If the number lands under the contract, that is a value problem. An air conditioner near the end of its life is a different problem.
What minimum property requirements cover
Minimum property requirements ask if the house is safe, structurally sound, and sanitary. Peeling paint on a pre-1978 house, a roof that is actively failing, exposed wiring, a missing handrail, and no reliable water are the kinds of items that stall a file.
The checklist is not a forecast of the next five years. A roof with life left can pass and still worry an insurance carrier. A water heater in the garage can pass and still be on its last year. The appraiser is not there to name every worn system.
What Tidewater means
Tidewater is the notice the appraiser sends when the value may come in short of the contract price. It goes to the lender before the report is finished. That window is your chance to send comparable sales the appraiser may not have used.
The lender runs the clock. We will not invent a number of hours here. Have the comps ready the day the notice hits, not after the report is already final. Tidewater stays on the value track. Repairs stay on the inspection track.
Why your inspection is a separate contract
The home inspection is your contract. You choose the inspector. You pay the fee. You get the report. A seller who says the house is ready for VA has not done that job for you.
You can clear minimum property requirements and still have a rough inspection. You can have a clean inspection and still get a Tidewater notice. In northeast Florida, ask the lender whether the file also needs a wood-destroying insect report. That report is a third document.
Roofs, paint, and what stalls a file
In Jacksonville the stall we see most often is condition the appraiser cannot ignore: peeling paint, an active roof leak, soft wood, or a safety item on stairs and decks. Those are minimum property requirement items. The guaranty waits on them.
An older roof is also an insurance item, even when the appraiser does not call it out. Get the homeowners quote while you are still inside the inspection period. We do not publish a premium. The quote belongs to that house, that year, and that carrier.
How to run both on a PCS clock
Order the appraisal as soon as the lender will send it. Book the inspection for the first open morning, and show up. If Tidewater lands, your agent should already know the nearby sales. Buyers headed to NAS Jacksonville, Naval Station Mayport, or Blount Island do not have a spare month hiding in the orders.
The VA contract gives you a path if the value comes in under the price. The inspection contingency is a different paragraph. Use them as two tools. Read more in the VA loan knowledge center, and see VA loan occupancy timing before you pick a closing date. Call (904) 309-0609.
Keep going
Call (904) 309-0609.
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