What is the difference between a home valuation and an appraisal?

A home valuation and an appraisal serve different purposes: an agent's valuation is an opinion built from recent comparable sales to help price a listing or satisfy curiosity, while an appraisal is a licensed, lender-ordered report used specifically to confirm a property supports a mortgage amount. Only the appraisal is regulated and required for most financed purchases. Brian Beatty's valuations use the same comparable-sales approach an appraiser relies on, just without the lender's formal requirements attached.