Attention homeowners in Los Altos and Santa Clara County: Need an appraisal?

Check out the top 7 reasons CA homeowners order from John F. Schulke:

  1. Find the right listing price (whether they're selling the home on their own or using an agent)
  2. To challenge a CA property tax assessment
  3. Remove PMI to lower a monthly mortgage payment
  4. To reinstate your Home Equity Line of Credit (or HELOC)
  5. Review another appraiser's report for verification
  6. In the case of a CA divorce, where property needs to be divided
  7. To settle an estate in Santa Clara county or CA by determining the true market value of property in question

Need help determining the price of your house in or near Los Altos, CA?
Contact John F. Schulke.

At John F. Schulke, we understand the special needs of a homeowner seeking appraisal services. While our usual business clients understand the appraisal process and standard reporting formats, you as a consumer will get extra customer service in the form of an explanation of the process and even special consumer-friendly reporting forms if the assignment allows for them.

For Sale By Owner/Pre-Listing Services

It's very hard to be objective about your home because you probably have an emotional attachment to it. A professional appraiser is objective and will tell you what you need to know, not just what you want to hear. A professional appraisal is very crucial as a negotiating tool once you have an interested buyer, in addition to helping you set a realistic price to sell at so your property will attract many interested buyers. It's something concrete to show the buyer. An appraisal is an independent third party's opinion of your property's price -- not just how much your home is worth. Potential buyers know you have an emotional attachment to your home and will be far more likely to give credibility to an expert appraiser's value estimation than yours.

PMI Removal Appraisals

A popular money saver for homeowners is getting the PMI removed from their mortgage loan, thus saving them money on their monthly payments. PMI stands for "Private Mortgage Insurance". Once your mortgage loan amount is less than 80% of the value of your house, in most cases you can apply to your lender to have the PMI canceled from your loan, which will make your monthly payments go down. At John F. Schulke, we're experienced in helping people just like you get rid of unwanted and unneeded PMI insurance.

Challenge Tax Assessment

Lets say you live in a region that is declining -- your local tax assessor may have your house overvalued. This only means you are most likely paying higher taxes than you should be paying. The faster you take care of a matter like this, the better, since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period. Getting an appraisal from John F. Schulke is your number one weapon when challenging your property tax assessment.

Recently got a freeze your HELOC?

Even if your specific property has not declined in value, your lender might just make the decision to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) if your property is near a declining area. Not only can this be inconvenient from a cash flow standpoint, but it can be unfavorable to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out. John F. Schulke can help you reinstate your home equity line of credit with a professional appraisal.

Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services

Do you need an expert to double-check your appraisal for preciseness, or do you want a second opinion without the cost and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? An appraiser from John F. Schulke can go out and check the subject and comps in question in a field review. If you need it immediately, we'll provide desk review and verify as many facts as we can using online data sources as well as our own files.

Do you need a retrospective review of an appraisal? John F. Schulke can help with that too. Even though this is typically requested by banks, you may want to make use of this service if you suspect mortgage fraud related to your property.