Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

I am thinking about selling my house. Should I order an appraisal or just ask the realtor to do a market analysis?

Answer: Agents generally base listing prices on sales in the area. Normally they don’t fine-tune to comparables to your specific home. They don’t measure you home to determine the square footage or break down the specific differences in the home; such as number of bathrooms, fireplaces, garage, quality of construction, etc. Only a licensed appraiser is qualified to do an appraisal. All of our appraisers are licensed Certified Residential appraisers.

I am going to refinance my home. Can I order an appraisal thru your company?

Answer: Anyone can order an appraisal. However, your lender normally orders the appraisals and most likely won’t except an appraisal ordered by a home owner.

We are considering adding an addition to our home. Can I order an appraisal to determine if it is worthwhile to do so and if we will get our money back when we sell?

Answer: Generally it is a good idea to have an appraisal done with an “as is” value and “as completed” value.

You have to be careful not to over-improve your home for the neighborhood.

I need an appraisal to settle my father’s estate. What is the difference between that appraisal and a bank appraisal?

Answer: A bank appraisal is based on Fannie Mae Guidelines and current market value. An estate appraisal is valued as of the date of death. The market value has likely changed if the date of death was several months ago.

Can you inform us what repairs would be required for the sale of our home?

Answer: Yes, we are fluent in FHA and Fannie Mae Guidelines.

How long will it take to have an appraisal done on my home?

Answer: Generally four to seven days.

I would like to get an appraisal on my house but I am reluctant. I don’t want the tax office to raise my taxes.

Answer: Our appraisals are kept strictly confidential and are not shared with anyone or government agents.

Is Zillow an accurate measure of market value? What is the difference between values given by Zillow and an actual appraisal?

Answer: Zillow can provide a general idea of value for an area. However, they do not break down the data the same way that an appraiser is qualified to do so.

Example: In many areas the tax assessor calculates the garage as living area. Therefore the subject property or comparable sales may be smaller than what is reported. A skilled appraiser would need to study the data to determine if a difference exists. Further, the automated valuation systems are not familiar with FHA and Fannie Mae guidelines, school boundaries, predominant neighborhood values or whether a property is in Baltimore City or Baltimore County.