So how do you find best Orange County Home Appraiser? You might be a home owner, a mortgage loan officer or even an appraisal management company. If you Google Orange County Home Appraiser and look at some of the listings, you’ll not find a lot of appraisers in Orange County, CA that do non-lender work. The majority of appraisers only do lender work and are not familiar with Bankruptcy, Divorce and Date of Death Appraisals. You may also find that almost every website looks the same. Most people, including appraisers, use the same templates and website developers to build their websites. This makes it even more difficult do decide who is best qualified to determine the current value of your home.

Appraiser websites should be designed to help you understand the appraisers experience and specialties, what areas they cover and any additional information that will be helpful in making your decision on who to hire. It pays to do your homework. Here are a few easy steps you can take to identify the best Orange County Real Estate Appraiser.

1. Ask if the appraiser is licensed. It sounds like a simple question but you would be surprised how many appraisers let their licenses expire and still do non lender appraisals. Licensed appraisers are required to complete continuing education every two years. This training is expensive and some appraisers skip this education to save money if they are not doing mortgage work. It’s also important to make sure that the appraiser’s license and E&O Insurance is attached to the completed appraisal. This is a good indication that they are up to date on the most current information and techniques of the appraisal process and understand how properly write an appraisal. If your home is valued at or around 1 million dollars expect to pay a little more for the appraisal due to the extra work and complexity that is involved as well as liability.

2. Ask the appraiser if they have a subscription to the MLS database in your area. MLS is the best source for recent sales in the area to compare your property to in order to produce a credible report. Without this information they will not be able to properly locate the best comparable sales.

3. Tell the appraiser what type of value you are looking for. This is not to be confused with telling the appraiser what value you think the property is worth or the value you want them to produce. Tell them you are looking for current market value as of a certain date. This may be as of the date of the inspection or a retrospective appraisal as of a certain date in the past. A retrospective appraisal is commonly used in a date of death appraisal for estate and tax purposes.

4. Make sure the appraiser understands how to appraise your particular type of home. Not all homes are the same. There are certain amenities that add value to a property and include total living area, lot size, views, pool, updates and location. These amenities will be adjusted on the report according to the market reaction to those aspect of the property.

If you have any questions about the appraisal process or need an appraisal on your property, Michael Gibson or Dave Rowan at OCappraisalpros can be contacted at 949 500 4496. Our website contains more information on OCappraisalpros can help!