When it comes to purchasing or selling a home, you want an unbiased third party to provide the real estate appraisal service. No matter what the other party says about using “their guy or girl”, you want to pay the extra to make sure of the true results. You should always keep appraisals and home inspections separate from real-estate agents and the opposing party in the transaction, this will insure that everything is done legally and above board. There are several reasons to hire a state licensed appraisal service other than just selling or buying property.

Often times an appraiser will need to be called in as expert witness to testify about the valuation of a property after a judgment has been asserted on the real estate. This will be necessary to see how much money the sale of the property should bring in to quash the court ordered debt repayment to a creditor, or lien holder. There are a plethora of other legal reasons to use an appraiser in court proceedings, and the number one reason is usually for a divorce settlement. This is to determine the value of all real property for equal division.

When the need for an appraisal service for back taxes by city, county, state or federal entities are due, and needs to be assessed. This will determine if the amount owed to the government body can be covered by the sale of a person’s home. It can also be used to correct any incorrect findings by the government to ensure that a client is getting the total value of their property recognized. When searching for an appraiser as a witness, make sure they have had experience in court, and will be helping you rather becoming a financial liability.

There are also issues that legally come up about eminent domain cases, history of property flooding, Estate settlements, and analysis of cost due to insect infestation. This type of service is invaluable to civil cases, and can mean the difference between winning and losing a sizable amount of money when not represented properly.

Predominately lending institutions such as banks, and credit unions will have an independent appraiser provide a detailed report of the value of a home or vacant land that a client is trying obtain a loan for, and will need verification of it’s worth before considering a loan of such proportion.