We offer appraisals for the following:
Estate Planning
Bankruptcy
Tax Assessment Appeals
Establishing Value (Pre-Listing/Purchase and For Sale By Owner)
Marriage Dissolution
Private Mortgage Insurance
Home Measurement Services
Estate Planning
Settling an estate is one of those things that most people know little about until they go through the experience. So we hope to offer you a bit of insight below into the process of estate settlement as it pertains to real estate appraisals.
When an estate has a transfer of ownership due to death or inheritance, it is very common for a real estate appraisal to be needed for tax purposes. Often, during the settlement process, either an attorney or accountant will order an appraisal or have a family member or executor select an appraiser for the job at hand.
It’s been our experience that estate appraisals are commonly ordered between 2-6 months after the death of a loved one or inheritance of a property. Occasionally an appraisal is ordered almost immediately; whereas it may also be as long as a year or more depending on the circumstances.
Retrospective appraisals are fairly common in estate settlement situations. These involve appraising a home based on a ‘prior date’ which is typically the owner’s date of death, hence the reason why estate appraisals are often referred to as ‘date of death’ appraisals. And, in addition to needing a retrospective or date of death appraisal during the settlement process, the ordering party may also request a ‘current value’ appraisal in order to determine a current market value for purposes of sale or settlement between heirs.
Bankruptcy
Have you ever wondered how a bankruptcy debtor calculates the value of their home? It is essential to be as accurate as possible when estimating your home’s value. In fact, an attorney will often recommend their clients contact a local real estate appraiser to perform an appraisal on the home to accurately assess its current fair market value.
A home appraisal provides you with an accurate assessment of your home’s fair market value. Significant discrepancies in the value of your home can create potential problems in bankruptcy. If the value is listed too low, there are certain risks, such as a trustee objecting to the scheduled valuation and potentially asking the court for permission to seize your home. On the other hand, if a value is listed too high, it is possible to miss out on the availability of Chapter 7 and/or pay back more than necessary in a Chapter 13. For these reasons, bankruptcy professionals quite often need to hire, work with, and rely on experienced real estate appraisers.
Tax Assessment Appeals
A large percentage of homes in the Orange County area are still being ‘taxed’ based on much higher property values before this decline. So, there’s a very good chance you’re paying more than your fair share of property taxes.
Sometimes, matters like this can be resolved with a phone call. However, if you’ve already discussed your assessment with your local taxing authority and you still feel as though your property has been overvalued, a professional, independent, third-party appraiser is often your best bet in proving your case.
Establishing Value
(Pre-Listing/Purchase and For Sale By Owner)
Today’s market can be challenging. Whether you’re a homeowner selling your property on your own or a seasoned realtor trying to establish a fair list price it’s often difficult to sift through all of the market data to determine a true value for your home. Because of this, it’s common for homeowners and realtors to rely on appraisers for assistance when establishing a list price for the sale of their home.
In addition to helping you set a realistic selling price so your home will attract buyers, a professional appraisal:
-Provides an effective tool for negotiating with potential buyers and their agents
-Helps instill confidence in potential buyers since you have written proof of your home’s value
-Highlights upfront any obvious repair problems which help eliminate last-minute repair hassles that might delay closing and,
-Decreases the chances of sales falling through due to unforeseen problems
Keep in mind that overpriced homes attract far fewer buyers, which means fewer and possibly no offers, wasting valuable time, money, and efforts; while an under priced home can result in a lower selling price and often coming out short.
We can provide you with a professional 3rd party appraisal, which is usually more accurate than a realtor based Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). A pre-listing appraisal ensures both you and your agent have an accurate description of your home’s features and a detailed analysis of the most recent and comparable sales.
Marriage Dissolution
Divorce is a painful process of which there are many decisions to be made including ‘who’s staying’ and ‘who’s going’ when determining what happens to the house. In many cases, the home is put up for sale, and the profits are split; otherwise one of the parties typically buys out the other. In any event, one or both parties should hire the services of a professional real estate appraiser to estimate the fair market value of the home. An appraisal for asset division should include a well-supported, professional report that’s defensible in court.
Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)
PMI, the acronym for private mortgage insurance, allows individuals to purchase their home with less than a 20% down payment. If you are paying PMI, you may not need to be. Have you ever given any thought to exactly what makes up your monthly payment? For most of us, the mortgage payment not only pays off the mortgage loan, but a portion also gets put into an escrow account to pay for real estate taxes and a variety of different types of insurance (homeowners, hazard, flood, PMI, etc.)
If you purchased your home with conventional financing and put less than 20% down, it’s likely you’re paying PMI. Private mortgage insurance protects the lender or investor against loss if a borrower stops making payments. Homeowners mistakenly pay this insurance year after year, when it’s no longer needed, and as a result end up paying thousands in useless insurance premiums.
Here’s the good news that many homeowners don’t realize – Once you’ve reached 20% equity in your home by appreciation, improvements made to the home or by paying down the principal balance of the mortgage (or any combination of the three), you can force the lender to cancel the private mortgage insurance. All you have to do is request in writing that the private mortgage insurance be canceled (most lenders have a brief form which must be filled out) and provide the lender with proof of sufficient equity over 20%.
In most cases, the necessary proof is a state certified appraisal. Recent legislation (the Homeowners Protection Act) requires servicing lenders to make homeowners aware of the existence of any PMI they might be paying for and the requirements necessary to have it canceled. Fortunately, you don’t have to wait for the lender’s notification to rid yourself of PMI. If you have equity of 20% or more, you’ll be able to cancel it almost immediately.
Home Measurement Services
In today’s highly competitive real estate industry, there has never been a greater need for accurate reporting of a property’s true living area as all too often the gross living area reported on public records differs from what really exists.
As a Realtor, the MLS, as well as your Broker-In-Charge, requires you report an accurate and detailed summary of your listing when you enter them into, so there are many reasons to get a professional measurement on your listings. For example, the home may be large or have a complex measurement assignment that you’re simply not comfortable measuring yourself. As an agent, you don’t want to be held liable for an inaccurate square footage listing in the MLS.
We can provide a professional sketch that is designed to provide clients with an accurate and affordable solution for a determination of the home’s gross living area. Having the correct measurements can save everyone time and money and even help expedite the sale of the home.