How To Choose A Real Estate Appraisal Service In Gilbert

If you search for "the best" appraisal service in Gilbert, you will find lists that rank everybody. We cannot honestly rank anyone, ourselves included, and we would be wary of any website that does. What we can give you is a short set of questions that works on any appraiser you are thinking of hiring. Use them on us too.

1. Check that the license is real

Arizona appraisers are licensed or certified through the state's appraiser licensing agency, and the process is set out in A.R.S. 32-3611. Look the person up with that agency before you hire. It takes a few minutes and is the most useful single thing you can do.

2. Ask whether they write your kind of report

A report for a mortgage is not the same as one for an estate, a trust, a divorce or a tax filing. Ask plainly: have you written this kind of report, and for what date? An honest appraiser says yes or says no.

3. Ask about the date

If the value is needed as of a date of passing or some other past date, the appraiser has to be comfortable researching the market as it was then, not as it is today.

4. Ask what the fee covers, and hear it before you commit

You should hear the fee and what it includes before anything is scheduled. Be careful with an appraiser who will not say. Be just as careful with one who guarantees a number. An appraiser gives an opinion from the evidence; the number is not chosen in advance.

5. Ask about timing

Ask for the earliest realistic date and what could change it. A promise that sounds too quick deserves another question.

6. Ask who will read the report

A report an attorney, a court, a trustee or the IRS may read has to be clear and complete. Ask what the report contains and whether it explains how the comparable sales were chosen.

7. Ask about the neighborhoods, by name

This is where a Gilbert appraiser should sound like it. Ask how an older ranch home near the Heritage District differs from a house in a newer master-planned neighborhood, how HOA dues and community amenities affect a sale, and how a pool or leased solar is treated. Gilbert is in Maricopa County, and the sales that matter are the ones close by. An appraiser who answers in specifics, without reaching for a general rule, probably knows the ground.

8. Notice how the first phone call feels

Does the person listen to your situation, or recite a script? An estate, a trust sale or a divorce is not routine for the people living through it, and a good appraiser knows it.

What we do not claim

We will not tell you we are the best, the cheapest or the fastest. We will tell you what we can do for your situation, what we cannot, and what it will cost before you agree.

If you would like to ask us these questions, call (480) 573-7263. You can also read what we prepare on our residential appraisal page.