Attention homeowners in Brentwood and Contra Costa County: Need an appraisal?

Check out the top reasons CA homeowners use AKA Appraisals:

To get a pre-listing appraisal (whether they're selling the home themselves or using a real estate agent)
To challenge a CA property tax assessment
To reduce a monthly mortgage payment by removing PMI
To reinstate their Home Equity Line of Credit (or HELOC)
To review a different appraiser's report for verification
If property needs to be divided because of a divorce
Determine the true market value of property in question to settle an estate in Contra Costa county or CA

Need help deciding the price of your home in or near Brentwood, CA?
Contact AKA Appraisals.

At AKA Appraisals, we understand the individual needs of a homeowner seeking appraisal services. Our regular business clients understand the appraisal process and the customary documents we provide. Being a homeowner that ordinarily doesn't see an appraisal on a regular basis,you can expect extra guidance and explanations through the appraisal process to more clearly understand what we do and how we report our conclusions.

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

Since you have an emotional attachment to your house, it's often very hard to be objective about it. A professional appraiser is objective and will tell you what you need to know, not just what you want to hear. In addition to helping you set a realistic price to sell at so your house will attract many interested buyers, a professional appraisal is a crucial negotiating tool once you have an attainable buyer. It's something tangible to show your buyer. The appraisal is an independent third party's opinion of your property's value, not just you saying how much you think your home is worth. Interested buyers know that you have an emotional attachment to your house and will be more likely to give credibility to an accomplished appraiser's value opinion than yours.

Need to remove PMI?

A popular money saver for homeowners is to get the PMI canceled from their mortgage loan, thus saving them money on their monthly payments. PMI stands for "Private Mortgage Insurance". Your monthly payments will go down once your mortgage loan amount is below 80% of the value of your property. In most cases you can apply to a lender to have the PMI eliminated from your loan. At AKA Appraisals, we're experienced in helping customers just like you dismiss undesirable PMI insurance.

Challenge property tax assessments

Your local tax assessor may have your home overvalued if you live in an area that's going down or not appreciating as much as other houses close by. This only means you're paying higher taxes than you should be paying. The faster you take care of a matter like this, the better off you'll be, since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period. An appraisal report from AKA Appraisals is your best weapon when contesting your property tax assessment.

HELOC recently frozen?

If your property is close to a declining area, your lender might decide to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) - even if your specific property has not declined in value. This can be be detrimental to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out, and also annoying from a cash flow viewpoint. An expert appraisal from AKA Appraisals can help you reinstate your HELOC.

We Offer Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services

Would you like a second opinion without the added cost and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? Or do you want a seasoned expert to double-check your appraisal for efficiency? An appraiser from AKA Appraisals can go out and check the subject and comparables in question in a field review. Or, if you need it in a rush, we can provide you with a desk review and verify as many facts as we can using online data sources as well as our own files.

Need a retrospective review of an appraisal? We can We can assist you Even though this is usually requested by banks, you may wish to exploit this service if you suspect mortgage fraud related to your home.