Negotiating a divorce property settlement can be complicated, and it can be difficult. But it doesn't necessarily have to be. You want your settlement to be determined based on true, accurate and complete information, and as expected, the best possible outcome depends...

This article will explore the never-ending dilemma of why someone's house didn't sell for as much as the neighbor's down the street did. There can be many reasons for that, but one, in particular, is the differences in home styles. Home styles can command hundreds of...

How Accurate is Zillow at Valuing My Home? Everyone loves looking up home values on Zillow. But few people know how accurate Zillow actually is. As an appraiser, this question comes up quite frequently, so let's see how accurate Zillow is, and we'll get the...

Real Estate Brokers have confidence but a real estate appraiser must have concrete evidence, especially when preparing a family law appraisal or serving as an expert witness (which is my specialty). Unfortunately, in most instances, real estate appraisers make...

In this article, we will look into the time aspect of appraising. We will briefly explore retrospective appraisals (past) current appraisals (present) and prospective appraisals (future), as well as specialized appraisals such as forensic and review appraisals. This...

Is A Low Home Appraisal Common? It’s not uncommon for a property to be appraised for less than the purchase price. Home appraisals come in low actually a lot because home buyers will often overpay for a property in order to beat out other buyers. This article will...

Divorce appraisals are the most difficult and sensitive of appraisals. Since the marital home is normally one of the most valuable jointly held assets, selecting an appraiser to do this work should never be taken lightly. Appraiser skill sets and experience levels...

What if the algorithms are all wrong? Could that happen? Say, in a presidential election... could big data be wrong? Do we rely too much on computer data? As Cathy O’Neil explains in her book “Weapons of Math Destruction” (available on Amazon) automated computer...

Eliminating PMI is one of the easiest ways to save thousands of dollars a year on your home mortgage. Private mortgage insurance (PMI) is a type of insurance policy that protects lenders from the risk that the buyer will default and push their home mortgage into...

Most common appraisal questions; How much does an appraisal cost? This is a bit more complicated than the more common appraisal FAQ questions I typically receive. There are different types of appraisals. Depending on the appraisal purpose, (lending, PMI removal,...