VA Appraisals and

Inspections

What to Expect — and How These Two Steps Protect You

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VA Appraisals and Inspections

Between a signed contract and the keys in your hand, two big steps stand in the way: the appraisal and the inspection. Here’s the thing — most buyers

lump them together, and they are not the same. They do different jobs, they protect you in different ways, and understanding both is how you keep

from overpaying for a house or buying somebody else’s hidden headache. Let’s pull them apart.

The Appraisal: What the Home Is Worth

The appraisal is ordered as part of your loan, and with a VA loan the appraiser is assigned by the VA. Their job is to answer two questions: what is this home actually worth, and does it clear the VA’s basic safety bar? When they’re done, they issue what’s called a Notice of Value. That number matters, because the VA won’t back a loan for more than the home is worth — which quietly protects you from overpaying.

VA Minimum Property Requirements

That “safety bar” has a name: Minimum Property Requirements, or MPRs. The VA wants to make sure the home you’re buying is safe, sound, and livable — things like a roof in decent shape, working mechanical systems, safe water and electrical, and no glaring health or safety hazards. In older homes, issues like peeling paint can get flagged too.

If something doesn’t meet the standard, it usually has to be addressed before the loan can close, which can mean the seller makes a repair. Some buyers hear that and worry it’ll blow up their deal. Flip it around: the VA is spending its own appraiser to make sure you’re not buying a home with a serious problem hiding in it. That’s not a hurdle — that’s the benefit protecting you again.

When the Appraisal Comes In Low

Sometimes the appraisal comes back below the price you agreed to pay. Don’t panic — you’ve got options. The seller can lower the price to meet the appraised value. You can cover the difference in cash if you have it and the home’s worth it to you. You can meet somewhere in the middle. Or, if none of that works, you can walk away — and as we covered in Blog 6, that VA protection keeps you from being forced to overpay.

✦ Captain’s Log

Let me tell you about one of the few real hiccups I’ve hit with a military buyer, because it shows the system working exactly the way it’s supposed to. We were under contract on a home, everything moving along nicely, and the VA appraisal came back lower than the price we’d agreed to.

My buyer didn’t have a pile of extra cash sitting around to make up that gap — and I wasn’t about to let him overpay for a house. So we went back to the seller. And because that VA appraisal is what it is, the seller came down and met the appraised value. The deal closed, my buyer paid a fair price backed by the appraisal, and nobody got hurt. That’s the protection doing its job.

Here’s one more piece of what made it work, and it’s another reason a market like ours is special: the seller was a military member too. He understood exactly where my buyer — a young family just getting started — was coming from, and he wanted to do right by them. That won’t happen on every deal. But around here, military-to-military transactions carry something you don’t always find elsewhere: people on both sides who genuinely get what you’re going through, because they’ve lived it too.

The Inspection: Your Deep Look Under the Hood

Now the other step — and this one is all about you. A home inspection is ordered and paid for by you, the buyer, and a good inspector goes deep: the roof, the HVAC, the plumbing, the electrical, the foundation, the water heater, all of it. Where the appraisal is a value-and-safety check, the inspection is a full condition report — it tells you what you’re really buying before you own it.

It’s technically optional. Get it anyway. Every single time. The findings give you knowledge and leverage: you can ask the seller to make repairs, renegotiate, or in a bad case, walk away before it’s your problem. Back in my own purchase, my inspection came back clean — but I still would’ve wanted it either way, because peace of mind is the whole point.

❖ From the Field

Here’s a story from my own office that I think about every time a buyer tells me they’re thinking about skipping the inspection. Another agent I work with had a client who bought a brand-new construction home — shiny, modern, never lived in. And because it was brand new, the buyer figured an inspection wasn’t necessary. The builder had its own inspectors, the county had done its walk-throughs. What could possibly be wrong with a brand-new home?

What nobody caught was that the roof panels weren’t properly connected — there was a six-inch gap running right through the roof structure. The roofers had come in and simply shingled over it. From the outside, the roof looked perfect. From the inside, the problem was invisible — until it wasn’t. When it finally surfaced, the repair cost that buyer several thousand dollars on a home they’d just bought brand new. A few-hundred-dollar inspection would have caught that gap. Never assume new means flawless.

⚓ Captain’s Course Correction

Here’s a mix-up that costs people real money: thinking the appraisal and the home inspection are the same thing — or figuring that if the home appraised, they can skip the inspection. Not even close.

The appraisal answers two questions for the lender: what’s the home worth, and does it meet the VA’s basic safety bar. That’s it. It is not a top-to-bottom check of the home’s condition. The inspection is the one that climbs into the attic and looks under the sinks and tells you what you’re actually getting. One protects the loan. The other protects you. You want both — always.

⚠ Captain’s Warning

You just heard what skipping an inspection can cost. So let me be blunt about the other trap: when the market’s hot, buyers get pressured to waive the inspection to make their offer look stronger. Don’t do it — not on a resale, and not on new construction either.

A passing appraisal does not mean the roof has ten good years left or that the HVAC won’t quit on the hottest day in July. A few hundred dollars for an inspection is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy. Giving it up to save a little money — or to win a bidding war — is a gamble with your own wallet. Compete on other terms, and keep your inspection.

A Word on Termites

One more check that’s standard here in Virginia: the termite inspection, sometimes called a wood-destroying insect report. Our climate is friendly to the little wood-eaters, and catching an issue before closing beats discovering it after. It’s a routine part of the process, and a good agent makes sure it happens — so it never becomes a surprise you’re paying for later.

Protecting Yourself Through Appraisal and Inspection

1. Know the difference. Appraisal = value and basic safety. Inspection = full condition report.

2. Always get a home inspection. Optional on paper, essential in practice. Every time.

3. Use the findings. Negotiate repairs, ask for credits, or walk if it’s bad enough.

4. Know your options on a low appraisal. Seller drops, you cover the gap, meet in the middle, or walk.

5. Don’t waive your protections. Not to save a little money, not to win a bid.

6. Lean on your agent and a trusted inspector. The right team catches what you can’t. (Blog 3)

One Last Thing

The appraisal and the inspection can feel like hoops on the way to your home, but they’re really guardrails — there to make sure you pay a fair price for a home that’s safe and sound. Understand what each one does, keep both in your corner, and you’ll walk into closing with your eyes wide open instead of your fingers crossed.

If you’ve got a low appraisal on your hands, a scary-looking inspection report, or you just want someone in your corner who’s navigated these a hundred times, that’s exactly what I’m here for. Let’s make sure these steps work for you, not against you.

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Questions about a VA appraisal or a home inspection — or staring down a low appraisal right now?

Book Your Free Consultation at coastalva.chat and let’s work through it together, with no obligation.

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About the Author: Marc Ian Griffin, aka Captain Real Estate, is a licensed REALTOR and Wealth Advisor with Coastal VA Estates LLC, powered by Keller Williams Town Center. A retired U.S. Navy veteran, Marc has called the Hampton Roads area home since 1992. He entered real estate in 2006 because he saw what was happening to everyday families who were losing thousands and, in many cases, losing their homes simply because they didn't have the right person guiding them through the potential real estate pitfalls — and he was determined to be that person. After a period away from the industry, he returned in 2025 with that same mission. Marc serves buyers and sellers across Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton, and Newport News.