Putting a house on the market in or near Los Angeles County? Contact Debra Ballou-Harding and make sure you're setting the price right.

If you're planning on selling your home soon, a professional appraisal is absolutely necessary. An appraisal doesn't cost that much and it pays you in the long run! Unless a homeowner spends hours every week on real estate valuation, like an appraiser, it's hard for them to understand local real estate values.

While important, an appraisal is not about how much you have invested in your home, or how much you want to sell it for. Rather, an appraisal assesses your home's market value.

Contact us for details regarding the specific services we offer for home sellers.

Selling on your own?

An increasing amount of CA homeowners are deciding to sell their homes FSBO (For Sale By Owner) and foregoing the help of a real estate agent. But to do it right, quickly and to get the most you can, you need a professional appraisal. It can be very difficult to get objective opinions, it's very difficult to be objective about your own home because of your emotional attachment to it. We will tell you what you need to know, not just what you want to hear.

In addition to helping you set a realistic selling price to attract more potential buyers, a professional appraisal can:

  • Be a very helpful negotiating tool once you have a potential buyer
  • Impress buyers with written proof of the condition of your home inside and out
  • Alert you of problems and eliminate last-minute repair hassles that might hold-up a closing
  • Decrease the odds of hidden problems that cause sales to flop

People are surprised to discover their home's value is higher than they originally thought. So by taking the first step and spending a little on a professional appraisal allowed them to get thousands more than they originally expected. Others have an an overestimated impression of the value of their home, and an appraisal helped them to to set a more reasonable price their home allowing them to quickly sell it instead of waiting on the market for months. Selling too high rarely attracts buyers, which means no offers and no closing, which can waste your valuable time and drain your resources while getting nothing done

Get a professional value opinion before listing

You might have a very talented agent but it's in your best interest to get an objective third-party's opinion of your home's value to signing a listing agreement. Debra Ballou-Harding can help. We can furnish you with a pre-listing appraisal so both you and your agent have a precise summarizing of your home's characteristics and a detailed breakdown of the newest and similar comparable sales or as they're commonly called, "comps".

Consulting services for Lakewood Sellers: Keep a local expert at your disposal

Not wanting to get an entire appraisal but are looking for information about how real estate is doing in your area? Maybe you feel like you don't need an "appraisal" but you require assistance collecting local sales and property data. We have services tailored for the needs of clients like you to assist with your real estate decisions.

This is a little bit of what to expect when you order an appraisal from ....

  • Immediate response to your initial inquiry: We tailor information to the needs of our clients We'll be thrilled to provide suggestions, just tell us what your situation is
  • Quick turnarounds on appraisals: Normally in a weeks time or less from the date the request is received, you'll have a copy, in PDF of the report in your e-mail inbox.
  • Consulting and Appraisal report arrangements to suit YOUR needs: We've worked on a lot of assignments, and we know that practice of real estateconsulting and appraising there isn't a typical or standard, "boiler place" report. We offer a variety of types of reports, and have an abundance of experience at providing appraisals to clients without a lot of industry jargon so that you don't have to be qualified loan officer to read it.
  • Quick reply to follow-up questions: When we create reports, we make sure they are written in plain English, comprehensible to people outside the real estate industry, and meet or exceed the Uniform Standards of Professional Practice that moderates the appraisal practice. If you have any confusion about your appraisal, after you've read through the report, feel free to give us a call or email us!