Accurate Home Appraisals

Expertise and the qualifications required for appraisals for:

• Property financing
• Residential property sales
• Asset valuation
• Taxation purposes including property tax assessments
• Legal disputes (marital, divorce, partnerships, etc.)
• Estates
• PMI Removal
• Date of Death Valuations

Estates

Estate settlement is often stressful, but a very important job. It's up to you as a trustee to carry out the wishes of the departed as swiftly and respectfully as possible. You can count on Eagle Appraisals to respond quickly and with as much sensitivity to the feelings of everyone involved.

Lawyers and accountants count on our conduct when calculating real property values for estates, divorces, or other disputes requiring a value being placed on real property. We understand their needs and are used to working with all parties involved. Because of our familiarity in working with attorneys and accountants and other agencies, we provide reports that definitely transcend all expectations.

PMI

When getting a mortgage, a 20% down payment is usually the standard. The lender's liability is oftentimes only the remainder between the home value and the balance remaining on the loan, so the 20% supplies a nice buffer against the costs of foreclosure, reselling the home, and natural value fluctuations on the chance that a borrower doesn't pay.

Lenders were accepting down payments dropping to 10, 5 and even 0 percent in the peak of last decade's mortgage boom. How does a lender handle the increased risk of the low down payment? The answer is Private Mortgage Insurance or PMI. This supplementary policy takes care of the lender in case a borrower doesn't pay on the loan and the market price of the home is less than the loan balance.

Since the $40-$50 a month per $100,000 borrowed is rolled into the mortgage monthly payment and on many occasions isn't even tax deductible, PMI is costly to a borrower. It's favorable for the lender because they collect the money, and they receive payment if the borrower defaults, different from a piggyback loan where the lender consumes all the costs.

Date of Death Valuation

Estate tax liability. Disposition of assets under a will or in probate. There are many situations -- none of them lacking stress and complexity -- where you might need an appraisal of property that states an opinion of what the property was worth on a date some time ago, rather than when the appraisal is ordered. For estate tax purposes or disposition of the assets of a decedent, a "date of death" valuation is often required. (Sometimes, the executor of the estate may choose to have the date be six months after the date of death -- but the same principles apply.)