San Diego Home Appraiser

What Makes My Appraisals Different?

The short answer is that my appraisals are prepared with especially diligent analysis that exceeds mortgage lender standards, and where true Market Value is developed and explained within the report.

I have helped thousands of people reach a fair settlement in their divorce, have confidence that they are receiving accurate tax benefits when taking advantage of the IRS step-up basis in tax benefits, and helped families and lenders with fair outcomes in bankruptcy court. I enjoy standing up in court to defend my work as an Expert Witness, and the court has consistently sided with my work.

In contrast...

The signficant majority of appraisers focus on the mortgage industry where the priorities are not market value, but the following:

1. Lender: Place a loan and sell it on the secondary mortgage market to investors.

2. Borrower: Obtain a loan that enables a purchase or refinance with desirable lending terms.

3. Mortgage Investor: Lend money with an acceptable level of risk.

A threshold value that is easy to support and that is prepared fast is all that is needed to satisfy the 3 parties above, not market value. As such, morgage lenders provide appraisers with rules when appraising that affects analyses, and appraisers are faced with time-consuming scrutiny if they don't meet those guidelines but prepare a good appraisal. The result is often a basic analysis with arbitrarily determined adjustments and a declaration of value that falls within the range of the comparable properties, but also seems otherwise arbitrary and doesn't reflect market value. The problem is that the majority of appraisers only know how to prepare appraisals under the lender guidelines and their appraisals are inadequate when defensible market value is needed.

Please reach out to me by email at brian@appraiser.llc