Appraisal services for Aptos and Santa Cruz County homeowners

The top 7 reasons CA homeowners hire Kathy Dotson:

To get a pre-listing appraisal (whether you're using a real estate agent or selling the home on your own)
Challenge a property tax assessment
To reduce their monthly mortgage payment by removing PMI
To reinstate their Home Equity Line of Credit (or HELOC)
To review a different appraiser's report for verification
In the case of a CA divorce, when property needs to be divided
To settle an estate in Santa Cruz county or CA by determining the true market value of real estate in question

Own a home in or near Aptos, CA and need help determining the price of it?
Contact Kathy Dotson.

At Kathy Dotson, we understand the special needs of a consumer seeking appraisal services. While our usual clients understand the appraisal process and standard reporting formats, you as a consumer will get extra 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 (FSBO) / Pre-Listing Services

Since you have an emotional attachment to your home, it's often very hard to be objective about it. Our professional appraisers at Kathy Dotson are objective. We won't just tell you what you want to hear, we'll tell you what you need to know. In addition to helping you set a realistic price to sell at so your house will attract interested buyers, a professional appraisal is a very valuable negotiating tool once you have an interested buyer. It's something concrete to show your buyer. It's an independent third party's opinion of your property's value, and not just you saying how much you think your house is worth. Potential buyers know you have an emotional attachment to your home and will be much more likely to give credibility to an expert appraiser's value conclusion than yours.

Appraisals to remove PMI

PMI stands for Private Mortgage Insurance. A preferred way to cut expenses for homeowners is getting the PMI removed from their mortgage loan, thus saving them money on their monthly payments. Your monthly payments will go down once your mortgage loan is down below 80% of the value of your house. In most cases you can apply to a lender to have the PMI canceled from your loan. Kathy Dotson is experienced in helping clients just like you do away with unnecessary PMI insurance.

Challenging a property tax assessment

Your local tax assessor may have your home overvalued if your house is not appreciating as much as other homes nearby. This only means you are paying higher taxes than you should be paying. The earlier you take care of things like this, the better off you'll be, since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period. Getting a professional appraisal from Kathy Dotson is your number one weapon when contesting your property tax assessment.

Recently got a freeze your HELOC?

Your lender might just make the decision to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) if your home is close to a declining area -- even if your specific property has not declined in value. This can this be difficult and inconvenient from a cash flow angle, and harmful to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out. An expert appraisal from Kathy Dotson can help you reinstate your HELOC.

Do You Need Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services?

Have you just been handed a copy of your appraisal and you'd wish to have a professional double-check it for efficiency or do you need a second opinion without the charge and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? An appraiser from Kathy Dotson can go out and check the subject and comparables in a field review. Or, if you're in a hurry, we can provide desk review and verify as many facts as we can using online data sources as well as our own files.

Need a retrospective review of an appraisal report? We can help you with that While usually requested by banks, you may need to take advantage of this service if you suspect mortgage fraud related to your home.