Home Appraisals: 5 New Truths

Do you know how much your home is really worth today? Have foreclosures affected its value? Can you trust the appraisal?

"Homeowners don't know what's going on around them anymore," says Kim Bradley, of Marquee Properties, a full service realty company in Northern Virginia.

A lot of the confusion centers on appraisals--the process of estimating what a home is worth. Gyrations in the housing market have made appraisals more fraught than ever. For their part, banks have tightened up appraisal requirements, in some cases leading to delays that may cost sellers money. On top of that, new rules designed to protect the integrity of the appraisal process may be having the unintended result of pushing valuations lower, according to the National Association of Realtors and other industry critics.

So what's the truth about the current state of home appraisals? Here are four things you need to know, whether you're buying, selling, or refinancing.