How to choose an appraiser
Best Answer
Experience
Require a minimum of 20-years experience
Insist on your appraiser possessing minimally 20-years of experience. So much is truly learned outside of a class room in all areas of life and especially in the real estate appraisal profession. Yet while years of experience are very important, equally important is to choose an appraiser whose sum of experience is not merely a repetition of the first year’s learning – i.e. many appraisers, like many in life, never advance their skills beyond what they learn in their first year or two of practice. Rather you want an appraiser who has consistently sought to improve his abilities year after year, such an appraiser will provide you with the greatest accuracy.
Restricted Coverage Area
Look for a locally based expert
Your Inland Empire property should be valued by an Inland Empire expert. It is unrealistic to even hope for an Orange, Los Angeles, San Diego or Ventura county appraiser to truly understand the market conditions and specific neighborhoods of Inland Empire cities and county areas. You should only work with someone who intentionally restricts themselves to one geographic area in order to become a true local expert.
Education
Require a four-year university degree
Since appraising is an intellectual endeavor, it is reasonable to expect that, all things being equal, the more educated the person, the better their ability to solve complex problems, so require at least a four-year university degree of your appraiser. While California is moving towards a requirement of a college education to become a licensed appraiser, the fact is that an 18-year-old with a high school diploma can apply for a license. Many appraisers still only possess a high school degree.
You deserve better, much better. But even that should only be a starting point. Your appraiser needs to show a commitment to continuing education and advancement. Michael Mathis has more than 5 times post university appraisal education than actual university class time. Your real estate properties are your most valuable financial asset and mistakes in estimating their value, even small ones, can have serious consequences for you.
For these reasons you deserve to have them appraised by the finest trained mind, not just anyone. It is why you should have an appraiser who combines an excellent mind with a strong formal education.
But a good mind and some book learning is still not enough. You also need an appraiser who has garnered exceptional knowledge and understanding through experience made possible only through performing over 10,000 reports and further sharpened by the interaction possible only in leading in classroom settings with hundreds of appraisers.
You deserve to have the best appraiser estimating your property value. Michael Mathis meets all these needs and will provide you with the finest possible appraisal services.
Advanced Technologies and Techniques
Demand cutting edge tools and techniques to ensure greater accuracy
Be certain your appraiser regularly embraces the most advanced available technologies and techniques. Choose an appraiser who standardly applies advanced mean paired sales (different and far more useful than simple paired sales – sorry appraiser talk) and various forms of regression analysis to arrive at objective adjustments that significantly enhance accuracy.
Fancy terms for great mathematical techniques, techniques that take time to perform, but yield more accurate results. Using dated methods create potential for incorrect adjustments, which could yield an inferior appraisal, one that could cost you money in lost savings or additional taxes.
On the other hand, coupling excellent data sources, powerful computer modeling techniques and over three decades of experience ensures you of the most accurate property appraisal possible.
Michael Mathis has been using the most sophisticated analysis tools since the mid-1990s. He specializes in harnessing their power and by doing so correctly your potential benefits are:
- A better loan
- Lower tax liability
- Lower house payments
- Fairer dispute settlements
- All adding up to more cash for you