Do You Need an Appraisal to List Your Home for Sale?

The Short Answer: No, an Appraisal Is Not Required to List Your Home

When homeowners in Beavercreek, Dayton, and nearby Ohio suburbs start thinking about selling, one of the most common questions I hear is whether an official appraisal is required before putting a home on the market. The simple answer is no—you do not need an appraisal to list and sell your home.

An appraisal is an opinion of value completed by a licensed appraiser. Because it’s a formal third-party report, there is an out-of-pocket cost, typically in the $500–$600 range. While appraisals serve a purpose, they are not necessary to get your home listed or sold.

How Most Sellers Determine a Listing Price in the Dayton Area

In more than 30 years working in the Dayton and Beavercreek real estate markets, I’ve found that out of every 100 homes I list, only about one to five sellers choose to hire an independent appraiser before going to market.

The vast majority of sellers rely on an experienced Realtor to determine a strong, data-driven pricing strategy. Realtors do not charge upfront for pricing guidance. You only pay your Realtor at the closing table—and only if the home successfully sells.

Realtor Pricing vs. Appraisals: What’s the Difference?

While Realtors are not certified appraisers unless they’ve completed the required coursework, we do have access to the same foundational data appraisers use. This includes:

• Local MLS sales data
• County property records
• Neighborhood and subdivision trends
• Current active competition
• On-the-ground market experience

By analyzing recent comparable sales, evaluating your home’s condition and features, and understanding current buyer behavior in the Dayton area, we can establish a realistic value range based on what buyers are actually willing to pay today. This pricing insight is a value-add that often saves sellers the cost of an appraisal before listing.

When an Appraisal Is Required

Although most sellers skip paying for a pre-listing appraisal, nearly all buyers using financing will be required by their lender to obtain one. In these cases, the appraisal is typically paid for by the buyer as part of their loan approval and closing costs.

The lender relies on the appraised value to confirm the mortgage amount and assess overall lending risk. This appraisal happens after the home is under contract, not before it’s listed.

Are Appraisals Always Accurate?

Some sellers assume an appraisal is a guaranteed or exact number. In reality, an appraisal is still an opinion of value—and opinions can vary.

I once listed a tri-level home in Centerville where the first buyer’s appraisal came in at one value and the deal fell apart for unrelated reasons. The home went back on the market and quickly under contract again. The second buyer’s appraiser valued the same home $30,000 higher—within 30 days of the first appraisal.

Same house. Two appraisals. Two very different values.

If appraisals were guaranteed and precise, every seller would order one before listing. The reality is that market exposure and buyer demand ultimately determine what a home sells for in the Dayton and Beavercreek markets.