Typically, we can complete your report within 48 hours after our appointment.

A Real Estate Appraiser completes a study on your home and your market and produces a report of the findings showing a current market value for your home.

Licensed Real Estate Appraisers have exhaustive training and experience as well as constant continuing education to ensure that they have the knowledge to interpret the market correctly so they can produce credible results.

There are several things you can do to prepare yourself and your home for a visit from an appraiser. Make a list of any upgrades that you have made to the home in the past five years, make a list of any of the features of your home that you believe are special, make a copy of any plot plans or surveys that you may have on hand, and clean the home of any clutter!

PMI is private mortgage insurance and most of the time you can have the mortgage company remove it by having an appraisal completed showing at least an 80/20 loan to value ratio.

A CMA is typically completed by a Realtor to aid in setting a list price. A CMA is sometimes detailed but it is computer generated and lacks the finesse and training of an actual Real Estate Appraiser. The real estate appraisal is a detailed process that is accurate and specific to your home with regard to your market. An appraisal report can be used by mortgage lenders, financial and estate planners as well as the court system due to its credibility.

A CMA is typically completed by a Realtor to aid in setting a list price. A CMA is sometimes detailed but it is computer generated and lacks the finesse and training of an actual Real Estate Appraiser. The real estate appraisal is a detailed process that is accurate and specific to your home with regard to your market. An appraisal report can be used by mortgage lenders, financial and estate planners as well as the court system due to its credibility.

The appraiser draws information from multiple sources to ensure accuracy. The local MLS (Multiple Listing Service) is utilized as well as online services including the assessors office, recorder’s office, permitting departments, building cost services, etc.

Depending on the purpose of the appraisal, any licensed appraiser should be able to help. If you are getting a loan or wish to have a person with a higher level of training, a ‘Certified Residential Appraiser’ would be the best choice. Commercial properties must have a ‘Licensed General Appraiser’ complete the appraisal.

Different users of appraisals have different standards on the time for the validity of an appraisal report but the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development(HUD) states that the validity period of an appraisal is up to 180 days.

The requester of the appraisal typically owns the report, but, if the appraisal is requested for lending purposes, the lender owns the report.

If I were hiring a residential appraiser for any reason I would ask that they have at least five years of experience and I would insist on a person that is Certified, a Certified Residential Appraiser.