Real estate appraisal services for homeowners in the city of Smithtown and Suffolk County

Here are the top seven reasons why NY homeowners hire Prestige Appraisals:

  1. To get a pre-listing appraisal (whether they're selling the home themselves or using a real estate agent)
  2. Challenge Suffolk county's assessment of your property
  3. Remove PMI to reduce their monthly mortgage payment
  4. To reinstate their Home Equity Line of Credit (or HELOC)
  5. To review another appraiser's report for verification
  6. In the case of a NY divorce, when property needs to be divided
  7. To settle an estate in NY by determining the true market value of property in question

Need help deciding the price of your home in or near Smithtown, NY?
Contact Prestige Appraisals.

At Prestige Appraisals, we understand the special needs of a consumer seeking appraisal services. Our usual business clients understand the appraisal process and the standard reporting formats. But as a consumer,you'll receive extra guidance and explanations through the appraisal process to understand what we do and how we present the results of our analysis.

For-Sale-By-Owner (FSBO) / Pre-Listing Services

Since you have an emotional attachment to your own home, it's often very hard to be objective about it. The professional appraisers at Prestige Appraisals will tell you what you need to know -- not just what you want to hear. We are objective. A professional appraisal is a very important negotiating tool once you have a likely buyer, in addition to helping you set a realistic selling price so your house will attract many interested buyers. It's something concrete to show the buyer. It's an independent third party's opinion of your house's price, and not just how much you think your home is worth. Interested buyers know you have an emotional attachment to your home and will be more likely to give credibility to a professional appraiser's value estimation than yours.

Appraisals to remove PMI

PMI stands for Private Mortgage Insurance. An attractive way to save money for homeowners is to get the PMI eliminated from their mortgage loan, thus saving them money on their monthly payments. Once your mortgage loan is less than 80% of the value of your house, in most cases you can apply to the lender to have the PMI removed from your loan, which will make your monthly payments go down. At Prestige Appraisals, we're experts in helping people just like you remove unwanted PMI insurance.

Challenge property tax assessments

Lets say your home is not appreciating as much as other properties nearby -- your local tax assessor may have your home overvalued. That only means you're probably paying more taxes than you should. Since your property assessment may likely go up again in the next period, the faster you take care of things like this, the better off you'll be. An expert appraisal from Prestige Appraisals is your number one weapon when contesting your property tax assessment.

Recently got a freeze your HELOC?

Your lender might just decide to automatically freeze your home equity line of credit (HELOC) if your home is near a declining area -- even if your specific property has not declined in value. This can be be damaging to your credit score since it may appear as though that credit line is maxed out, and also troublesome from a cash flow viewpoint. Prestige Appraisals can help you reinstate your home equity line of credit with a professional appraisal.

Field and Desktop Appraisal Review Services

Do you need a seasoned professional to double-check your appraisal for preciseness, or do you want a second opinion without the charge and delay of waiting for a whole new appraisal? Prestige Appraisals offers field reviews where we go out and check the subject and comparables. If you need it in a rush, we'll provide you with a desk review and verify as many facts as we can using online data sources as well as our own files.

We can also provide you with a a retrospective review of any appraisal report you may have had done before. Even though this is usually requested by banks, you may want to take advantage of this service if you suspect mortgage fraud related to your home.