Real estate appraisal services for homeowners in the city of Rancho Santa Margarita and Orange County

Here are the top 7 reasons California homeowners need BFReal Estate:

  1. Get a pre-listing appraisal (whether they're selling the home themselves or using a real estate agent)
  2. Challenge property tax assessments
  3. Remove PMI to reduce a mortgage payment
  4. To reinstate your Home Equity Line of Credit (or HELOC)
  5. Review another appraiser's report for verification
  6. In the case of a divorce in the state of California, where real estate property needs to be divided
  7. To determine the true market value of a property to settle an estate in Orange County or the state of California
Need help deciding the price of your house in or near Rancho Santa Margarita, California? Contact BFReal Estate.

At BFReal Estate, we understand the unique needs of a homeowner seeking appraisal services. Our business practices and reporting formats are familiar to our business clients like lenders, attorneys, and accountants. But as a general consumer, we will give you extra guidance and explanations through the appraisal process to better understand what we do and how we report our findings.

For Sale by Owner (FSBO)/Pre-Listing Services

Since you have an emotional attachment to your home, it's often very hard to be objective about it. The professional appraisers at BFReal Estate will tell you what you need to know -- not just what you want to hear. We are objective. A professional appraisal is a very important negotiating tool once you have an interested buyer, in addition to helping you set a realistic selling price so your home will attract buyers. The appraisal is something tangible to show the buyer. The appraisal is an independent third party's opinion of your house's market value, not just you saying how much you think your house is worth. Potential buyers assume that you have an emotional attachment to your house and will be much more likely to give credibility to a qualified appraiser's value assessment than yours.

Challenge Tax Assessment

Let's say you live in a local area that is declining -- your local tax assessor may have your house overvalued. This only means you are probably paying higher taxes than you should be paying. Since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period, the sooner you take care of a matter like this, the better. A professional appraisal from BFReal Estate is your perfect weapon when challenging your property tax assessment.

Need to remove PMI?

PMI stands for Private Mortgage Insurance. A preferred way to save money for homeowners is to get the PMI canceled from their mortgage loan, thus saving them money on their monthly payments. Your monthly payments will go down once your mortgage loan is below 80% of the value of your house. In most cases you can apply to your lender to have the PMI removed from your loan. At BFReal Estate, we're experts in helping consumers just like you rid themselves of unwanted and unneeded PMI insurance.

HELOC recently frozen?

Even if your specific property has not declined in value, your lender just may decide to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) if your home is close to a declining area. Not only can this be inopportune from a cash flow viewpoint, but it can be bad for your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out. BFReal Estate can help you reinstate your home equity line of credit with efficient appraisal.

Need Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services?

Have you just accepted a copy of your appraisal and you would like to have a professional double-check it for accuracy or do you need a second opinion without the added expense and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? We can go out and check the subject and comparables in a field review. If you need it ASAP, we'll provide you with a desk review and verify as many facts as we can, using online data sources as well as our own files.

Do you need a retrospective review of an appraisal? We can help with that too. Although most review work is requested by lenders, homeowners suspecting they've been the victim of mortgage fraud are prudent to invest in a second opinion.