Buying Your Dream Home or Refinancing

Buying a home is one of the most important and expensive decisions a family can make.  Lenders require a market value appraisal to ensure the price you have agreed to pay is reasonable in order to protect their financial interests. If you got a good deal and the property is worth much more, this will show on an appraisal even though the loan amount will be based on the purchase price.

Selling Your Own Property

Selling your own property can save you money from real estate commissions in some markets some of the time.  Accurately pricing your home to sell is one of the most important factors in  keeping all of your equity.

If you overprice or under price your home, you could be losing valuable equity.

Overpricing - Studies have shown that houses that are initially overpriced tend to be on the market longer and ultimately sell at a price less than their market value, on average. That’s why it isn’t customary for real estate agents to simply overprice a house and slowly bring the price down over time. They’ve learned that overpricing a house is the best way to dramatically increase marketing times and ultimately end up getting less money for the owners in the process.

Underpricing - If you ask too little then you are obviously throwing your money away. The cost of a professional appraisal is very low compared to the risk of improperly pricing your house.

What special skills are most helpful to someone selling their own house?

We have expertise in determining the market’s reaction to special problems with housing. For instance, if your house is unusual in some way or needs a lot of repairs we can estimate the market’s reaction to those problems so that you can price your house properly. We also analyze external factors such as your home’s proximity to any adverse factors.  There are a lot of situations that require special expertise and we work with homeowners all the time with those sorts of problems. Call us before you price your property if you are unsure of market price.

What can an appraiser do that a real estate agent can’t?

Appraisers are specifically trained to estimate market value and are adept at dealing with difficult valuation problems if some aspect of your house is unusual. Real estate agents receive very little appraisal training as part of their licensure requirements. In fact, the exposure they do get is only a very brief introduction. The vast majority of real estate agents/brokers have no detailed training in the appraisal process.  While they can give you a brokers opinion of value, by state law they cannot provide certified appraisals.

Also, as State Certified Real Estate Appraisers we are required to conform to a set of standards known as USPAP which entails hundreds of pages of standards and ethics. We are required by law to be objective, impartial, independent, and to act without accommodation of personal interest.

Relocation Appraisals

If you are a homeowner who is being transferred and your employer is providing relocation assistance then they probably have hired a relocation company.

This company will assist your employer with your move, and part of that assistance will be sale assistance of your home. They will need to know the anticipated sales price of your house. They will generally give you a list of approved appraisers and tell you to choose one or two (sometimes three) appraisers from that list.

Appraisers will provide the relocation company with a detailed appraisal report outlining the features and market value of your home.

Investments / Real Estate Partnerships